Short BIO

Achim Klabunde is leading the IT Policy Sector at the secretariat of the European Data Protection Supervisor. Before joining the EDPS, he was a policy officer at the European Commission, in the data protection unit of the Directorate General for Justice and before that in DG Information Society and Media where he led the team in charge of privacy and trust policy for electronic communications for the 2009 Telecom Reform process. Before joining the European Commission, he held several management positions in the IT and telecommunications industry, with particular focus on mobile communications, network management, and network and information security, and lectured in computer science. Mr Klabunde has a master's degree in Computer Science and Communications Research from Bonn University. His areas of expertise include data management, network planning, data protection and IT security.

CPDP Conference 2012 presentation

Data Protection Reform

CPDP Conference 2011 presentation

Privacy in the Digital Agenda for Europe

A lack of trust in the online environment is seriously hampering the development of Europe's online economy. Among people who did not order online in 2009, the top reasons were: payment security concerns, privacy concerns, and trust concerns.

Privacy and the protection of personal data are fundamental rights in the EU which must be – also online - effectively enforced using the widest range of means: from the wide application of the principle of "Privacy by Design", to dissuasive sanctions wherever necessary. The EU’s revised framework for electronic communications clarifies the responsibilities of network operators and service providers, including their obligation to notify breaches of personal data security. The implementation of the ban on spam will be reinforced using the Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) network. There is scope to build confidence by creating EU online trustmarks for retail websites.

The ongoing general review of the data protection regulatory framework aims to modernise all relevant legal instruments to meet the challenges of globalisation and to create technology neutral ways of enhancing trust and confidence by strengthening citizens' rights. It will include a possible extension of the obligation to notify data security breaches.