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The Hellenic Data Protection Authority (HDPA) is an independent public authority under Article 9A of the Constitution and has its seat in Athens.

It was established by Law 2472/1997, which incorporated into the Greek legal order the European Directive 95/46/EC on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data.

By Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council (General Data Protection Regulation – GDPR), which entered into force on 25/5/2018 in all EU countries, Directive 95/45/EC was repealed.

From 29/8/2019, Law 4624/2019* applies in Greece. In this law, articles 9 to 20 refer to the HDPA (supervisory authority). Law 2472/1997 has been repealed except for certain provisions expressly referred to in Article 84 of Law 4624/2019.

Law 4624/2019 also includes the transposition into the Greek legal order of Directive (EU) 2016/680 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by competent authorities for the purposes of the prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of criminal offences or the enforcement of criminal penalties and on the free movement of such data and repealing Council Framework Decision 2008/977/JHA.

Furthermore, with regard to the protection of personal data in the electronic communications sector, the HDPA applies Law 3471/2006 which incorporates the European Directive 2002/58/EC into national law.

The President of the HDPA is Konstantinos Menoudakos, Honorary President of the Council of State.

The HDPA is served by its own Secretariat which operates at management level and has its own budget.

*“Hellenic Data Protection Authority (HDPA), measures for implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data, and transposition of Directive (EU) 2016/680 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016, and other provisions”.