Opening remarks by European Union Deputy Ambassador Ondrej Šimek at the Network for African Data Protection Authorities (NADPA) Conference

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Opening remarks by European Union Deputy Ambassador Ondrej Šimek at the Network for African Data Protection Authorities (NADPA) Conference

07.05.2024 Press and information team of the Delegation to KENYA

Remarks by European Union Delegation to Kenya Charge d'affairs a.i, Mr Ondrej Simek, at the opening of the NADPA conference

© European Union Delegation to Kenya

• Your Excellency President of the Republic of Kenya William Ruto, Cabinet Secretary for Information, Communication and the Digital Economy Eliud Owalo, Principal Secretary for ICT and the Digital Economy Eng. John Tanui, Data Commissioner Ms. Immaculate Kassait, Representatives from data protection authorities across Africa, Ladies and Gentlemen, distinguished guests, Good Morning. All protocol observed

• It is my great honour to join you for the opening of the NADPA conference. I wish to express my thanks to the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner and the Government of Kenya for hosting the 7^th edition of his important event here in Nairobi.
• As we start two days of deliberations, let us take a moment to acknowledge the importance of data privacy. Data is reshaping the fabric of our societies; It has become a critical resource, offering endless opportunities to revolutionise health care, address environmental challenges and build smart cities to name a few.
• This remarkable potential also comes with its own set of risks. As our societies go digital, vast amounts of personal and sensitive data are being generated, collected, and processed every day. Even more so with the increased uptake of artificial intelligence.
• Citizens around the world, be it in Africa or in Europe, have encountered not only the benefits, but also the diverse challengesthat come with this: data breaches, cyber-attacks, cyber-stalking, identity fraud, all grounded in the unauthorized use of personal information.
• In response, the number of modern data protection laws and independent supervisory authorities around the world and in Africa are growing. More and more countries choose a safe digital future, for a digital transformation that earns their citizens' trust, and for a stable and predictable legal framework that protects citizens' rights and offers businesses certainty as a basis for innovation.

Safe Data flows for Africa's Digital Single Market

• As neighbour and trade and investment partner to Africa, Europe supports the creation of an African Single Digital Market, where data can flow across borders, trust in digital solutions is high and local private sector leverages data value chains on the basis of clear and harmonised laws and regulation.
• To realise this vision, collaboration between data protection authorities around the world is needed to advance the regional and global harmonisation of legal and regulatory frameworks.
• One area of specific importance is that of safe cross-border data flows. A first step isensuring that data protection laws provide for mechanisms to share data across borders, a second is to operationalise them effectively. These are critical steps towards Africa's Single Digital Market and towards a global area for safe data exchange.
• We look forward to continuing the engagements with NADPA and members on these issues in global fora such as the General Privacy Assembly. We are also interested in strengthening the collaboration between NADPA and its European counterpart, the European Data Protection Board, which brings together the national privacy regulators of our 27 member countries.

Adequacy Dialogue Announcement

• For the EU, the most comprehensive legal mechanism for free and safe cross-border data flows is an adequacy decision. An adequacy decision means that a country outside of the EU is considered as providing a similar level of protection for personal data as the level of protection within the EU. As a result, personal data can flow freely between both jurisdictions without any additional regulatory restrictions or conditions.
• On this occasion of the NADPA conference in Nairobi, I have the honour to share that Kenya and the European Union have started the very first Adequacy Dialogue on the African continent. This dialogue builds on the many commonalities shared by our respective data protection regimes. If successful, these talks could result in an adequacy finding for Kenya.
• During the next months, we will be working closely together with the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner and the Ministry of Information, Communication and The Digital Economy to explore this possibility of building a safe "personal data bridge" between our two economies.
• An adequacy decision comes with significant benefits: It would boost digital trade between Kenya and the European Union, give Kenya access to Europe's growing data economy worth over 800 billion euro by 2025; it would also increase accessibility of data in a wide range of areas including research and unlock investment opportunities in Business Process Outsourcing and digital services exports.
• Under such an arrangement, Kenya would in a way be assimilated to an EU Member State as far as data protection is concerned: By that I mean that data would flow between let's say Paris and Nairobi as freely as it flows between Paris and Berlin. In this way, an adequacy decision will also complement and amplify the benefits of the recently concluded EU-Kenya Economic Partnership Agreement.
• This important development in our bilateral relations is a testament to the tremendous growth of the ODPC since its establishment in 2020 in terms of capacity, the number of staff, regional offices and the effective promotion, implementation and enforcement of data protection legislation. As Team Europe, together with Germany, we are proud to have been a part of this journey through various initiatives including training, study visits, peer-to-peer exchanges and more.
• Considering the immense progress that is being made by Data Protection Authorities across the continent, it is our hope that in a continuous positive trend, Kenya will be the first of many countries in Africa that can benefit from an adequacy decision.
• On this positive note, I would like to thank the Government of Kenya and the Network for African Data Protection Authorities for the good partnership and for inviting us to be part of the conference today and tomorrow. Thank you. Asanteni sana!