The future of data protection: Gold standard vs. global standard

While GDPR has been described as the new gold standard for data protection, Convention 108 may represent the potential global standard in this field. The recent progressive expansion of the Council of Europe’s model and the modernised version of the Convention have revitalised its role in the global context. In a multipolar world of different regulatory approaches where data protection legislation in many countries is still absent or in its early stages, Convention 108 could be seen as representing the embodiment of the Latin saying “in medio stat virtus”. Between the extremes of a weak safeguarding of individual rights and a gold standard, Convention 108 provides a solution that is good enough and workable in many different contexts, without necessarily reaching a gold standard.