The purpose of the Convention is to maintain the rights and fundamental freedoms of individuals, including the right to privacy with regard to automatic processing of personal data relating to them, whatever their nationality, country of residence or other circumstances.
The Convention defines the principles of gathering, processing, storing and using personal data, and also contains measures to protect individuals from the illegal use of data relating to them.
The Convention's relevance for the Russian Federation is heightened by the fact that information technology linked to the automatic processing of personal data is developing rapidly and applied in an increasingly wide sphere. The Convention contains the norms that regulate transborder flows of personal data. In particular, it provides for restricting the transfer of personal data in states where the domestic law does not provide for its due protection and also restricting the transborder transfer of certain categories of personal data subject to specific regulations, including those linked to national security.
In order to better implement the Convention, a number of draft laws have been prepared by the Government of the Russian Federation in order to make the Russian Federation's legislation more conform to the Convention's provisions.