Legal Library

Mexican law on protection of personal data held by private parties 15/07/2010
Full english text of law.

UK Terrorism Bill introduced October 2005 13/10/2005
The Terrorism Bill as introduced October 2005.

Canada Wiretap Guidelines 23/08/2005
Guidelines for Agents and Peace Officers Designated by the Solicitor General of Canada - Electronic Surveillance 1999 (revised version)

Germany Adopts FOI Law (external) 08/07/2005
The Bundesrat approved the Federal Freedom of Information on 7 July 2005. The Act will be enforced by the Federal Data Protection Commission. It will go into force in January 2006.

India Right of Information Act, 2005 15/06/2005
The Right to Information Act was approved by the Parliament and signed by the President in June 2005 and went into effect in October 2005. It replaces the Freedom of Information Act, 2002 which was adopted in January 2003 but never went into force. Under the Act, all Indian citizens have a right to ask to ask for information from central and state public authorities. The public authority must respond in thirty days. An independant Information Commission is created for the nation and each state.

UK Identity Cards Bill (take deux - explanatory notes) 25/05/2005
The explanatory notes to the mildly modified bill details an even more expensive ID card.

UK Identity Cards Bill (take deux) 25/05/2005
The text of the Identity Cards bill when it was reintroduced to the House of Commons on May 25, 2005.

Philippines Anti-Terrorism Bill 25/05/2005
In response to the terrorist attacks in February, the draft bill on terrorism has been introduced in May 2005. This bill and its sister proposal, the ID card bill have been marked as 'urgent' by the President and is not set to undergo much parliamentary scrutiny since it is already approved by the President.

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms 04/05/2005
Enacted in 1982, the charter protects privacy in sections 7 and 8.

Pakistan draft law on data protection 11/03/2005
We have archived the second draft of Pakistan's proposed rules on data protection. It is a promising bill but it only applies to the private sector, lacks adequate oversight, and is in need of stronger language on collection, retention, and subject access. Archived in PDF.

UK Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 11/03/2005
The Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005, adopted 11 March 2005, allows for 'control orders' to be issued to limit the liberty of individuals without trial.

UK Prevention of Terrorism Bill and Explanatory Memorandum 22/02/2005
Released in response to a UK Law Lords ruling on detention powers, this bill proposes unprecedented powers for the Home Secretary.

Ireland's policy on data retention in Terrorism Law 15/02/2005
The late-introduced amendments to the Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Bill.

Swiss Federal Law on the Principle of Administrative Transparency 17/12/2004
The Parliament approved the Federal Law on the Principle of Administrative Transparency (Loi sur la Transparence, LTrans) in December 2004. The law gives any person the right to consult official documents and obtain information from authorities. The authorities must respond in twenty days. The Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner will have oversight. It will go into effect in January 2006.

Serbian Act on Access to Public Information (PDF) 02/11/2004
The Serbian Parliament on 2 November 2004 approved the Act on Access to Public Information by a vote of 147-0 with 84 abstentions. It was supported by the Democratic Party and G17 parties. (B92, 2 November 2004).

Dominican Republic Law on Access to Information 28/08/2004
President Hipólito Mejía approved the Law on Access to Information on 28 July 2004. All persons have the right to demand information from government bodies which must respond in 15 days. Appeals can be made to a court. Officials can be fined and jailed for refusing to provide information

Status of Ratifications of Aarhus Treaty 17/08/2004

COE Chart of Ratifications for Cyber-Crime Treaty (external) 29/07/2004
This offsite resource monitors the state of the CoE Convention. Although it was signed in November 2001 by over thirty countries, governments have been slow to ratify.

COE Chart of Ratifications for Treaty 108 on Data Protection 29/07/2004

Argentine Data Retention Law (2004) 29/07/2004
Ley 25.873 Modifícase la Ley Nº 19.798, en relación con la responsabilidad de los prestadores respecto de la captación y derivación de comunicaciones para su observación remota por parte del Poder Judicial o Ministerio Público. The law requires that ISPs retain data for 10 years.