According to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data is a fundamental right. However, rapid technological change and globalisation have posed new challenges in this area. The scale of the collection and exchange of personal data has increased significantly, and technology now enables both private companies and public authorities to use personal data on an unprecedented scale in carrying on their activities. At the same time, awareness of personal information is growing, and there is clearly a growing concern for security, privacy and the protection of personal data.