ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF
WEST AFRICAN STATES

COMMUNAUTE ECONOMIQUE
DES ETATS DE L'AFRIQUE
DE L'OUEST

THIRTY-SEVENTH SESSION OF THE AUTHORITY OF
HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT

Ahuja, 16th February 2010

SUPPLEMENTARY ACT A1SA.1f01f10 ON PERSONAL DATA
PROTECTION WITHIN ECOWAS

THE HIGH CONTRACTING PARTIES,

MINDFUL of Articles 7, 8 and 9 of the ECOWAS Treaty as revised on the
establishment of the Authority of Heads of State and Government and defining its
composition and functions:
MINDFUL of the Supplementary Protocol AlSP.1f06f06
amendment of the revised Treaty of ECOWAS:

establishing the

MINDFUL of Article 4 paragraph g of the said Treaty relating to the Member
States' adherence to the promotion and protection of human and peoples'
rights in accordance with the provisions of the African Chaner on Human
and Peoples' Rights;
MINDFUL of Article 27, 32 and 33 of the said Treaty relating to Science and
Technology, and on the areas of Communication and Telecommunications;
MINDFUL of Article 57 of the said Treaty on judicial and legal cooperation, wt1ich
prescribes that the Member States undertake to promote judicial cooperation with
a view to harmonizing judicial and legal systems:
MINDFUL of ECOWAS Supplementary Act AlSA 1101/07 of 19 January 2007 on
the harmonization of the policies and regulatory framework of the Information and
Communication Technologies sector (lCT);
CONSIDERING the important progress made in the area of Information and
Communication Technologies (lCT) as well as the Internet which increasingly
raises the problem of personal data protection;
CONSCIOUS that a technology such as the Internet, wrth its facilities of profiling
and tracing of individuals, consmutes a favourable vector for gathering and

processing personal data:

Select target paragraph3