On June 4, we celebrate the Freedom and Civil Rights Day

Established by a resolution of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland in 2013, the Freedom and Civil Rights Day commemorates the first free parliamentary elections in Poland after World War II. Civil rights also directly relate to the protection of fundamental and human rights, and these also apply to the tasks that the Personal Data Protection Office performs on a daily basis.

In his speeches, positions and opinions, the President of the Personal Data Protection Office, Mirosław Wróblewski, has repeatedly emphasised that the protection of personal data and privacy is an integral element of human rights, especially nowadays, in which data processed online or by modern technological tools are of exceptional value, often much more valuable than material goods.

Since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the UN General Assembly in 1948, the protection of privacy has been seen as one of the fundamental rights of the individual. It should also be remembered that it is a law that also protects the citizen against abuse of power.

In the 1970s, a new field of legal science appeared, which we now call personal data protection law. Over time, it gained further formal foundations, including the law of the Council of Europe and the European Union. The most important document that every EU citizen refers to today is, of course, the General Data Protection Regulation of 2016, commonly known as the GDPR. We are celebrating the seventh anniversary of its use.

The protection of personal data as a fundamental right is also enshrined in Article 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

As we celebrate Freedom and Civil Rights Day, let us remember the right to data protection, as it is becoming more important in the digital age we live in.

We trust that the Office for Personal Data Protection, as one of the bodies guarding rights and freedoms, has an extremely responsible mission to fulfill in this perspective.