The course aims to provide a general knowledge of the contents and the regulatory framework, at international and European Union level, of one of the most challenging and multifaceted rights of our time: the fundamental right to privacy.

After having outlined the international normative background on the right to privacy, we will focus on the study of the EU data protection laws, also from a comparative perspective with the data protection standards imposed by the relevant normative instruments within the Council of Europe context.

In particular, the following topics will be dealt with: relevant EU laws; data protection terminology; fundamental principles of European data protection law; independent supervision; data subjects’ rights and their enforcement; cross-border transfers and flows of personal data; data protection in the context of police and criminal justice; modern challenges of personal data protection.

Emphasis will be placed on the study, including group study, and on the discussion of relevant case law of the Court of Justice.