The Ibero-American Network of Data Protection (RIPD) is born as a consequence of the agreement reached at the Ibero-American Symposium on Data Protection (EIPD) held in La Antigua, Guatemala, from the 1st to the 6th of June 2003, with the attendance of 12 Ibero-American countries.
The RIPD is established as a response to the need to foster, maintain and strengthen a close and constant exchange of information, experiences and knowledge among Ibero-American Countries, through dialogue and collaboration in issues related to personal data protection. The RIPD is open to all Ibero-American countries that wish to promote and implement initiatives and projects related to this matter.
The RIPD intends to create an integrating forum that will allow for the different social actors to get involved, both from the public and from the private sector. This initiative, from its start, has enjoyed political support which is reflected in the Final Declaration of the Thirteenth Summit of Heads of Government and State of the Ibero-American countries held in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, on the 14th and 15th of November 2003, being the leaders aware of the nature of personal data protection as a Fundamental Right, as well as of the importance of Ibero-American regulatory initiatives to protect the privacy of all citizens.
From that moment onwards, the RIPD became a forum for the promotion of the Fundamental Right to data protection within this community, with political representatives of the corresponding States that signed the Declaration of Santa Cruz de la Sierra taking on its fostering and responsibility.
The definite consolidation of this forum as the ideal channel to take decisions, adopt documents and fix future strategies becomes one of the strategic objectives of the RIPD. In short, it is a key goal for the institutions that comprise the RIPD to boost and implement the Fundamental Right to Personal Data Protection through the entities with power and competency to urge national governments to elaborate regulatory laws in this matter, with the aim of achieving the Declaration of Adequacy from the European Community.
The Network’s objectives and organization are set forth in the Rules and Regulations approved at the Sixth Ibero-American Data Protection Symposium held in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, from the 27th to the 30th of May 2008.