The Article 29 Working Party (WP29) is an independent body that advises the European Commission about data protection matters. Established under Article 29 of the Data Protection Directive (95/46/EC), the party is composed of:
- Representatives of the national supervisory authorities in the Member States;
- Representative of the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS);
- Representative of the European Commission.
The party issue opinions, guidelines and other documents that, although not legally binding, are regarded as official guidance and an indication of the approach of the European Commission. Under the GDPR, the WP29 will become the European Data Protection Board (EDPB).
The WP29 have just published their Guidelines on Automated individual decision-making and Profiling for the purposes of Regulation 2016/679, which is the GDPR. The guidelines clarify the definition of profiling and provide examples and advice on compliance with the new Regulation in this respect.