California privacy regulator to partner with French data authority

The California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) on Tuesday signed its latest partnership agreement with an international data privacy regulator, inking a deal with France’s Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL) to conduct joint research on data privacy issues and share investigative learnings.

California and French law — as well as the General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union — all emphasize the importance of international collaboration for data privacy protection work, a CPPA press release said. France is a member of the EU.

“This declaration establishes a general framework of cooperation to facilitate joint internal research and education related to new technologies and data protection issues, share best practices, and convene periodic meetings,” the release said.

“Privacy rights are a commercial reality in our global economy,”  Michael Macko, deputy director of enforcement at the CPPA, said in a statement. “We’re going to learn as much as we can from each other to advance our enforcement priorities.”

CPPA also collaborates with three international organizations that connect privacy regulators: the Asia Pacific Privacy Authorities (APPA), the Global Privacy Assembly and the Global Privacy Enforcement Network (GPEN). 

The California agency was created after the state’s first-in-the-nation comprehensive consumer privacy law, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), took effect.  

CPPA and CNIL are each their country’s first independent data protection authorities.

“We are looking forward to working together on common research projects, to exchanging good practices or to sharing experiences,” said Marie-Laure Denis, President of the CNIL, in a statement. “Data circulation on a global scale requires such an approach to go beyond the national and European framework.”