National data protection authority

There are several national data protection authorities across the world, tasked with protecting information privacy. In the European Union and the EFTA member countries, their status was formalized by the Data Protection Directive and they were involved in the Madrid Resolution. This project is a part of the work of the International Law Commission of the United Nations. On the European level, it is the G29 and the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS). The process was backed in 2005 by the Council of Europe, during the World Summit on the Information Society (Tunis, November 2005), and in 2006/2007 within forums on Internet governance (Athens 2006, Rio 2007). On 12 June 2007, OECD issued a recommendation entitled "OECD Recommendation on Cross-border Co-operation in the Enforcement of Laws Protecting Privacy". It aimed to improve national Privacy law enforcement so national authorities can better cooperate with foreign authorities and put in place efficient international mechanisms to ease trans-frontier cooperation for legislation protecting privacy. This recommendation was implemented with the 2010 founding of the Global Privacy Enforcement Network. An Ibero-American network of data protection exists. In May 2008, during its 6th meeting, in Colombia, its declaration asking international conferences on data protection and privacy to "pursue their efforts, regardless of their geographical location, in order to adopt common legal instruments". Another network is that of the Central and Eastern data protection authority (CEDPA). This network has expressed its will to pursue and strengthen its activities within the CEDPA, notably to elaborate common solutions and assist new members with the establishment of data protection legislation. That was during the June 2008 meeting in Poland.