Article 29 Working Party

The Article 29 Working Party is so named because this was the section of the Directive which created it.


The Article 29 Data Protection Working Party is composed of:

• a representative of the supervisory authority (ies) designated by each EU country;
• a representative of the authority (ies) established for the EU institutions and bodies;
• a representative of the European Commission.


The Working Party elects its chairman  and vice-chairmen. The chairman's and vice-chairmen's term of office is two years. Their appointment is renewable.

The Working Party's secretariat is provided by the Commission.

The Working Party is independent of the Commission but given the level of expertise, the views carry weight with the Commission.

The Article 29 Working Party is made up of a representative from the data protection authority of each EU Member State, the European Data Protection Supervisor and the European Commission. Its name comes from the Data Protection Directive and it was launched in 1996.

Its main missions are:

• Give expert advices to the States regarding data protection
• Promote the same application of the Data Protection Directive in all EU state members, as well as Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland
• Give to the Commission an opinion on community laws (first pillar) affecting the right to protection of personal data