Bio:
Mr. Peter J. Hustinx (1945) has been European Data Protection Supervisor since January 2004. He was appointed by a joint decision of the European Parliament and the Council of 22 December 2003 for a term of five years. He has been closely involved in the development of data protection legislation from the start, both at the national and at the international level. Before entering his office, he was President of the Dutch Data Protection Authority for more than twelve years.
In 1970 he graduated as Master of Law ("cum laude") at the University of Nijmegen (Netherlands), and in 1971 he obtained an MCL degree at the University of Michigan Law School in Ann Arbor (USA).
From 1971 to 1975 he was legal adviser at the Dutch Ministry of Justice, Division for Constitutional and Criminal Law. From 1972 to 1976 he was Deputy Secretary of the Royal Commission on Privacy and Personal Data ("Koopmans-Commission").
From 1975 to 1991 he was legal adviser in the Dutch Ministry of Justice, Division for Public Law Legislation. From 1979 to 1991 he was General Counsel in this Division.
From 1976 to 1991 he was member of the Council of Europe's Committee of Experts on Data Protection. From 1985 to 1988 he was Chairman of this committee.
In 1991 he was appointed as President of the Dutch Data Protection Authority for a term of six years. In 1997 and 2003 he was re-appointed ("Registratiekamer", since 2001 "College bescherming persoonsgegevens").
From 1996 to 2000 he was Chairman of the Article 29 Data Protection Working Party (established under Directive 95/46/EC).
From 1998 to 2001 he was Chairman of the Appeals Committee of the Supervisory Body for Europol (established under Article 24 Europol Convention).
In 2002 he was elected Chairman of the Commission for the Control of Interpol's Files for a term of three years. In 2005 he was elected for a second term.
Since 1986 he has also been deputy judge at the Court of Appeal in Amsterdam.