Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC
Adopted on 24 October 1995, Directive 95/46 was the EU's flagship data protection law, set up as an internal market harmonisation measure under the Treaty of Rome - a human rights law that also protected the . It had 72 recitals and 34 articles, extended protection to manual data in filing systems, created and the Article 29 Working Party, and left member states a wide margin of manoeuvre in implementation.
By the end of the 1980s, only a few states had ratified Convention 108 and their laws were fragmented, harming both privacy and the 's free-trade goals. So in 1990 the Commission proposed a Directive, formally adopted on 24 October 1995. Because the EU cannot make stand-alone human-rights laws, it was based on the internal market provisions - the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital, which needs the free movement of personal data.
- 72 recitals and 34 articles, arranged in seven chapters
- Set out general but left detailed transposition to member states (the margin of manoeuvre)
- Recurring concepts: ‘necessity’ and ‘adequacy’ for international transfers
- Major advance over Convention 108: applied to manual data in a filing system
- Applied to data controllers ‘established' in a member state, or using processing equipment there (requiring a representative)
- Identified special categories of data and set extra requirements
- Mandated a national DPA in each state acting with ‘complete independence' and the Article 29 Working Party
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Adopted | 24 October 1995 |
| Proposed | 1990 by the Commission |
| Structure | 72 recitals, 34 articles, 7 chapters |
| Legal base | Internal market / Treaty of Rome harmonisation |
| Scope advance | Covered manual data in filing systems |
| Applied to | Data controllers only |
| Bodies created | National DPAs; Article 29 Working Party (Art 30 duties) |
The Directive applied to data controllers only. Direct obligations on processors are a GDPR innovation. Also note the WP29's duties sit in Article 30.