Читать книгу Privacy and Data Protection based on the GDPR - Leo Besemer - Страница 18

The rights of every individual in the EU were established at different times, in different ways and in different forms. At the beginning of the new millennium the EU decided to include all of those fundamental rights in a single document. The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (the ‘Charter’, proclaimed in December 2002) included the general principles set out in the ECHR. The Charter also covers all the rights found in the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU and other rights and principles resulting from the common constitutional traditions of EU countries.

The Charter explicitly refers to both the protection of privacy and the protection of personal data as a fundamental right:

Article 7 – Respect for private and family life

Everyone has the right to respect for his or her private and family life, home and communications.

Article 8 – Protection of personal data

1. Everyone has the right to the protection of personal data concerning him or her.

2. Such data must be processed fairly for specified purposes and on the basis of the consent of the person concerned or some other legitimate basis laid down by law. Everyone has the right of access to data which has been collected concerning him or her, and the right to have it rectified.

3. Compliance with these rules shall be subject to control by an independent authority

Charter of the Fundamental Rights of the European Union (2000/C 364/01).

After 2000 the European Union grew even more rapidly, both in terms of the number of countries and in political power. From 1 January 2002 the Euro becomes the currency in twelve EU countries. In May 2004 ten countries joined the EU, in 2007 followed by Bulgaria and Romania, bringing the number of Member States to 27 and effectively expanding its area over a 1.000 km eastward. The only addition since 2007 has been Croatia, which joined the EU in July 2013.

Figure 1.5 Between 2004 and 2007 ten countries joined the EU