Peter served as the first European Data Protection Supervisor from January 2004 until December 2014. From 1991 until 2004, he was president of the Dutch Data Protection Authority, and from 1996 until 2000, he was also chairman of the Article 29 Working Party. He has been closely involved in the development of data protection law from the start, both at national and various international levels. He received law degrees in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. In July 2015 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Edinburgh for his work in the field of information privacy and data protection.