Morocco adopted – on 6 June 2013 – a bill approving the Council of Europe’s (CoE) Convention 108 for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data. Once ratified, Morocco will become the second non-member country of the Council of Europe to accede to Convention 108, following Uruguay’s accession on 12 April 2013.
Floriane Leclerc, representative for the Association of Francophone Data Protection Authorities (AFAPDP) at the French Data Protection Authority (CNIL), told DataGuidance: “The Moroccan Data Protection Authority hopes that ratification will lead to amendments to the Moroccan [data protection] law. It needs to be modified to reinforce the authority’s ability to enforce the law, [and] its financial and functional independence.”
Morocco was first invited to accede to Convention 108 on 30 January 2013. Convention 108 is the first legally binding instrument governing data protection, adopted by the CoE in 1981, establishing minimum data protection standards. The CoE is in the process of discussing proposals to modernise the Convention in light of the upcoming changes proposed by the draft EU Data Protection Regulation.
The Moroccan Data Protection Authority hopes that ratification will lead to amendments to the [data protection] law.
A spokesperson for the CoE told DataGuidance: “[As well as the Convention], the Council of Europe is also encouraging Morocco to accede to the Additional Protocol. There is direct contact between the Council and Morocco with the aim of achieving a fast accession.”
The Additional Protocol builds upon the original Convention by providing for the establishment of national supervisory authorities responsible for ensuring compliance and prohibiting transborder data flows unless the recipient state or international organisation is able to afford an adequate level of protection.
Morocco’s upcoming accession follows Russia’s ratification of the Convention on 15 May 2013, which will enter into force on 1 September 2013. Morocco’s accession will bring the total number of countries party to the Convention to 47.
