President of the Personal Data Protection Office

Jan Nowak fulfils the function of the President of the Personal Data Protection Office.

On 4th of April, 2019, he was appointed for this post by the Sejm (lower chamber of the Polish Parliament). On 16th of May, 2019, Jan Nowak took the oath before the Sejm and that moment marked the beginning of his four-year term of office.

His relation with data protection and the office began in 2008 with him taking up the post of the Director of the Bureau of the Inspector General for Personal Data Protection, and afterwards of the Director of the Personal Data Protection Office – until his appointment for the position of the President.

Jan Nowak graduated from the Warsaw University of Technology and completed EMBA postgraduate studies at the Warsaw Management Academy.

The legal basis for the activity of the President of the Personal Data Protection Office derives from the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR[1]) and the Act of 18 May 2018 on the Protection of Personal Data[2] and its implementing acts:

• Regulation by the Council of Ministers of 14 January 2019 on the remuneration of the members of the Personal Data Protection Board and number of its meetings per calendar year[3]

• Regulation by the Council of Ministers of 20 March 2019 on the specimen of service identity card of the employee of the Personal Data Protection Office[4]

The President of the Personal Data Protection Office is the central public administration authority for personal data protection in Poland.

[1] Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC – General Data Protection Regulation (OJ L 119, 4.5.2016, p. 1, OJ L 127, 23.05.2018, p. 2, OJ L 74, 04.03.2021, p. 35.)

[2] Journal of Laws of 2019, item 1781

[3] Journal of Laws of 2019, item 164

[4] Journal of Laws of 2019, item 697

[5] Directive (EU) 2016/680 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by competent authorities for the purposes of the prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of criminal offences or the execution of criminal penalties, and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Council Framework Decision 2008/977/JHA (OJ L 119, 4.5.2016, p. 89)

[6] Regulation (EU) 2016/794 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2016 on the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) and replacing and repealing Council Decisions 2009/371/JHA, 2009/934/JHA, 2009/935/JHA, 2009/936/JHA and 2009/968/JHA OJ L 135, 24.5.2016, p. 53)