Federal Commissioner for Freedom of Information

Peter Schaar

Curriculum vitae

Peter Schaar was born in Berlin in 1954. He is married and has two children.

On the proposal of the Federal Government, Peter Schaar was elected the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection by the German Bundestag on 17 December 2003. With the entry into force of the Federal Act Governing Access to Information held by the Federal Government on 1st January 2006, one more function came in addition to his tasks and he became the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information. On 26 November 2008 the German Bundestag reconfirmed him in his office for another five-year term.

Holding a diploma in economics Peter Schaar first worked in different assignments at the administrative service of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg prior to assuming the function of head of section with the Hamburg Data Protection Commissioner in 1986. He was deputy there until 2002 and finally he was a dedicated member of the Commission set up to accompany the modernization of Data Protection Law. On 1st November 2002 he changed into private business and founded a consulting company for data protection which he ran as managing director until October 2003.

In 2008, Peter Schaar was awarded the prize of the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation "Das politische Buch" ("the political book") for his book Das Ende der Privatsphäre (The end of privacy). In addition, he is a temporary lecturer at the faculty for mathematics, informatics and natural sciences at the University of Hamburg and he is active in the Humanistische Union (Humanistic Union)."

---

Berlin Commissioner for Freedom of Information

Dr. Alexander Dix

Curriculum vitae

Dr. Alexander Dix, LL.M. (Lond.), was elected as Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information by the Berlin State Parliament (Germany) for the first time in June 2005. Previously he had been Commissioner in the State of Brandenburg for seven years. When he was elected to hold this position in 1998 he was the first Commissioner for Freedom of Information in Germany.

Dr. Dix is a specialist in telecommunications and media and has dealt with a number of issues regarding the cross-border protection of citizen's privacy. He chairs the International Working Group on Data Protection in Telecommunications ("Berlin Group") and is a member of the Art. 29 Working Party of European Data Protection Supervisory Authorities. In this Working Party he represents the Data Protection Authorities of the 16 German States (Länder).

A native of Bad Homburg, Hessen, Alexander Dix graduated from Hamburg University with a degree in law in 1975. He received a Master of Laws degree from London University after studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1976 and a Doctorate in law from Hamburg University in 1984. He has published extensively on issues of data protection and freedom of information. Inter alia he is a co-editor of the German Yearbook on Freedom of Information and Information Law.