European Data Protection Supervisor: “Use human intelligence to tackle the digital landscape’s possibilities and risks”

Brussels – “Human” intelligence remains at the heart of digital evolution. The exhortation comes from the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), which presented its 2024 annual report today, concluding the 2020-2024 mandate,  focusing on shaping a safer digital future, and marking the institution’s two decades of protecting people’s privacy and personal data.

Wojciech Wiewiórowski, head of the EDPS, emphasized that “The digital landscape is in constant movement – that is a fact that the EDPS has worked with over the last 20 years. We can’t predict the future with exactitude, but what we can do is use our resources, human intelligence, and diverse expertise in technology and privacy to prepare for the diverse possibilities and risks that the digital landscape presents.”

​In 2024, the EDPS created the Artificial Intelligence Unit and unveiled an AI Strategy based on Governance, Risk Management, and Supervision, as the EDPS takes on its new dual role as the competent market surveillance authority for the supervision of AI systems and notified body for assessing the conformity of certain high-risk AI systems. The EDPS takes on this mission “to ensure that EU institutions, bodies, offices and agencies (EUIs)’s development and use of AI tools uphold the highest EU data protection standards,” according to a statement accompanying the report.

Anticipating the continuous digital grind is also deployed at the EDPS with its Foresight projects, including the monitoring of technologies. This year, the EDPS’ efforts in this area concentrated on exploring, understanding, and explaining the benefits and limits of data protection of AI-led technologies.

From a Policy and Consultation perspective, 97 legislative consultations were published–a record number– advising on the data protection aspects of upcoming EU regulations covering the digital rulebook, health, justice and home affairs, and digital wallets, proving the direct impact on EU citizens and their fundamental rights to privacy.
 According to the EDPS, being forward-looking is essential, but building a safer digital future starts today. In this regard, the EDPS doubled down on supervisory and enforcement actions by providing the necessary tools to EUIs, either in the form of Supervisory Opinions, verifying and authorizing international transfers, training sessions, data protection officers’ networking fora, to ensure compliance with EU data protection laws now, and in the future.

“Constructing a sustainable future for data protection can only be achieved with robust foundations,” Supervisor Wojciech Wiewiórowski said. Part of these foundations is collaboration to ensure consistent application of EU data protection rules, elevating these to global standards, he writes in his 2024 annual report. “With this in mind, we steadily worked with the European Data Protection Board, of which we are a member and provider of its Secretariat, to deal with EU-wide data protection preoccupations together. We also use our influence internationally through our participation and leadership at the G7 of data protection and privacy authorities, international organizations’ workshop, and other international platforms for cooperation,” he added.