Privacy Working Group
Purpose
The Working Group gathers mutual interest amongst INATBA members to obtain more guidance and particular help from the regulators. This may lead to issued guidance, on the European level from the EDPB, change of current regulations and taking this key technology into account when drafting new regulations.
Objectives
The Working Group has selected three objectives around which it will carry out its annual work:
• Conduct a broad survey to substantiate the efforts and understand in more detail how blockchain projects perceive privacy regulations, in particular the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and how it impacts them.
• Understand how privacy regulation around the globe impacts on blockchain (projects).
• Strengthen the connection with the European Data Protection Board (EDBP) and input on the expected opinion/guidance on blockchain.
Outputs
The Working Group engages in a number of activities aimed at achieving the aforementioned objectives. Among others, Working Group Members will be convening an event on Privacy Aspects of CBDCs in May, are working to review blockchain implications of the ePrivacy Regulation draft and publish an update to their second report on data protection regulations across international regulations to include more territories.
Work to Date
The Privacy Working Group published a report on data protection regulations in the blockchain ecosystem, followed by a report on data protection regulations applicable to blockchain technologies across international jurisdictions. Members also responded to the Council Resolution on Encryption and attended an EDPB meeting.
Why is it essential?
Privacy regulations, and their unclarity with regard to blockchain, are currently a limiting factor in the development of distributed systems and networks. As regulators currently work on the assumption client-server architecture for IT systems, there are no provisions for blockchain/DLT.
