The APDCAT commemorates 5 years of application of the General Data Protection Regulation

The director of  the Catalan Data Protection Authority (APDCAT), Meritxell Borràs, has argued  that clear regulation on artificial intelligence (AI) is necessary, because the rules we establish now will be those that will define the society of the future.   During the act of commemoration of the 5 years of application of the RGPD, organized jointly with the  Illustrious Bar Association of Barcelona (ICAB), Borràs said that  the irruption of ChatGPT has put us face to face with what the future may bring, and has shown the need to regulate AI. According  to the director, the European regulation seeks a difficult balance between establishing guarantees to safeguard the values and rights of the EU, and developing AI systems.

Borràs has insisted that aspects such as prevention, awareness, prospecting, regulation, responsible innovation and control are key when it comes to protecting privacy. He pointed out that people must be made aware that the use of AI is not harmless. In addition, he said that transparency about data processing and the impact it can have on people must be enhanced, as well as promoting data protection by design and by default, the focus on risk, impact assessments on data protection.

5 years at the forefront of privacy protection

The director recalled that five years of GDPR and a pandemic have shown us that personal data can be processed when necessary, and that the regulation is not designed to prohibit data processing, but to be done with guarantees for people.   He recalled that the GDPR can serve as a model for other regulations.

Borràs has defended that without data protection there can be no democratic state and law, and that the present and future is to integrate data protection as an indispensable requirement, as well as to facilitate that people exercise their rights.

The director has intervened accompanied by the general director of Digital Services and Citizen Experience of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Ester Manzano, in a table moderated by the lawyer and president of the section of rights of Information and Communication Technologies, Marc Gallardo. Subsequently, experts discussed the challenge of applying data protection legislation to AI-based technologies. The head of legal services of the Catalan Data Protection Authority, Xavier Urios; the coordinator of Data Protection at the Catalan Institute of Health (ICS), Míriam Méndez, and the head of the Area of Advice and Legal Support to Digital Administration, Ruth Molina. The debate was moderated by lawyer Jordi Bacaria, member of the Information and Communication Technologies Rights Section and member of the Data Protection Advisory Council of the APDCAT.