April 20, 2020

During its 20th Plenary Session on 7 April 2020, the EDPB assigned concrete mandates to its expert subgroups to develop Guidance on several aspects of data processing in the fight against COVID-19:

1. a mandate was given to the technology expert subgroup to lead work on geolocation and other tracing tools in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak;
2. a mandate was given to the compliance, e-government and health expert subgroup to lead work on the processing of health data for research purposes in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Considering the high priority of both topics, the EDPB decided to postpone the guidance work on teleworking tools and practices in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak for the time being.

Andrea Jelinek, Chair of the EDPB, said: “The EDPB will move swiftly to issue guidance on these topics within the shortest possible notice to help make sure that technology is used in a responsible way to support and hopefully win the battle against the corona pandemic. I strongly believe data protection and public health go hand in hand.” To read the EDPB’s press release in full and for a link to the 20^th Plenary Session agenda, click here.