In 2010 the OECD marked the 30th anniversary of its 1980 Guidelines on the Protection of Privacy and Transborder Flows of Personal Data. These guidelines were the first international statement of the core information privacy principles and have proven highly influential over the years, serving as the basis for national and international privacy instruments.

 The OECD marked this anniversary with three events:

• Roundtable on the impact of the Privacy Guidelines (Paris, March 2010)
• Conference on the evolving role of the individual in privacy protection (Jerusalem, October 2010)
• Roundtable on the Economic Dimensions of Personal Data and Privacy (Paris, December 2010)

These meetings were followed up with a conference on OECD conference on global interoperability (Mexico City, November 2011).

The work associated with the 30th anniversary informed the review and adoption of revised Privacy Guidelines in 2013.