Peter Hustinx' comments come as the ACTA is being worked out between several countries and regions, notably the EU, the US, Australia and Japan, in a bid to control copyright infringements both on and off the internet.
Hustinx, however, said that moves to curb and control internet piracy could threaten the fundamental rights of EU citizens by infringing on current data protection laws.
"Intellectual property must be protected, but it should not be placed above individuals' rights to privacy and data protection. A right balance between the protection of intellectual property and privacy and data protection should be ensured", he said.
Because of these issues, Hustinx said that the EDPS calls on the EU to implement appropriate safeguards to all data transfers made in the context of ACTA.
Such safeguards, he explained, should take the form of binding agreements between EU senders and third country recipients.
According to Hustinx, it is particularly crucial that data protection requirements are taken into account from the very beginning of the negotiations. This will prevent, he said, alternative privacy solutions from being required at a later stage.