The European Committee on Legal Co-operation (CDCJ) crafted the terms of reference for the Project Group on Data Protection to handle issues of data protection.

The recent terms of reference for the Project Group on Data Protection read:

"Under the authority of the CDCJ and in the framework of the follow up to the Declaration and the Action Plan of the Second Summit of the Council of Europe (Strasbourg, 10-11 October 1997), and of the Declaration of the Committee of Ministers on a European policy for new information technologies (Budapest, 6-7 May 1999), the CJ-PD is instructed:

a. to prepare, as a matter of priority, for the attention of the CDCJ or its Bureau, a report on the impact of the data protection principles on the use of biometric data (fingerprints, iris recognition, face recognition, hand geometry, etc.) in different fields;

b. to finalise, for the attention of the CDCJ, a report on guiding principles for the protection of personal data with regard to the use of smart cards;

c. to ensure the proper implementation of the international instruments of the Council of Europe instruments in the field of data protection, and provide countries which so request with technical and legal assistance;

d. to co-operate with other Council of Europe committees, in particular:

i. by the preparation of opinions in fields such as State security services, access to official documents, use of genetic databases for identifications purposes etc.;

ii. by participation in other committees, in fields such as bioethics and in particular genetic data, as well as on access to official documents."