Giovanni Buttarelli

Before entering his office, he was Secretary General to the Italian Data Protection Authority since 1997. Member of the Italian judiciary, and was a member of many committees on data protection and related issues at international level.

In 1984 he obtained his Degree in Law (ʺcum laudeʺ) at the University of Rome ʺLa Sapienzaʺ. He previously served from 1976 at the Municipality of Frascati mainly as Head of two registry offices.

From 1984 to 1990 he collaborated with the Chair of Criminal Procedure at Rome University.

He has been a member of the Italian judiciary since 1986.

From 1986 to 1990 he served at the Courts of Rome and Avezzano (here, as monocratic judge “pretore”).

From 1990 to 1997 he worked at the Legislation Department of the Italian Ministry of Justice where he contributed to drafting and following up many regulatory provisions, in particular concerning criminal law, criminal procedure and data protection. He was a member of several inter-ministerial committees also concerning immigration, racial discrimination, Community fraud, de-criminalisation, reformation of tax, computer crime laws, access to confidential records and digitalisation of public administrative agencies.

During the EU Italian Presidency of 1996, he chaired the European Union Council Working Group which drew up Directive no. 97/66/EC on the protection of privacy in the telecommunications sector.

In 1997, after the entry into force of the first Italian Data Protection Act, to the drafting of which he had contributed, he was appointed Secretary General of the Italian Garante. He played an active role as a member of the Committee that drew up the 2003 Personal Data Protection Code..

From 2002 to 2003 he was President of the Joint Supervisory Authority set up in pursuance of the Schengen Agreement, following his vice-presidency from 2000 to 2001.

His experience in data protection includes participation in many bodies at European Union level (including Art. 29 Working Party, Art. 31 Committee of Directive n. 95/46/EC and Taiex programs), and at the Council of Europe (in particular, also as a consultant, T‐PD; CJ‐PD, DH‐S‐Ac, Venice Commission), as well as contribution to many hearings, meetings and workshops held also by Parliaments and to specialized book journals and papers.

He currently teaches on privacy at the Lumsa University, Rome.