General information

The Council of Europe is the oldest European political organisation, founded in 1949 and associating at the moment over 40 countries, including many countries from Central and Eastern Europe. One of the aims of setting up the Council of Europe was the need to protect human rights including the right to privacy. Since 1989 the Council of Europe's main activity has become acting as a human rights watchdog for Europe's post-communist democracies and providing know-how in the area of human rights. In its output there are many legally binding European treaties or conventions many of which are open to non-member states on topics such as human rights and data protection, as well as recommendations to governments setting out policy guidelines.

More information concerning the Council of Europe and its activities in regard to the protection of personal data can be found at its website: https://www.coe.int/EN/web/data-protection/home