This August, the Government of the Republic of Serbia adopted the Strategy of Personal Data Protection for the period until 2030. Milica Radovic, Attorney and Senior Counsel at the Milosevic Law Firm, explains the importance of this document, but also what the position of the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection will be like. In this interview, among other things, you can also read about the Strategy goals and how you can get informed about your rights.
Can you tell us something more about the adopted Strategy of Personal Data Protection and its relation with the current Law which regulates this field?
Considering that, in both the local and international environments, there have been dynamic changes in terms of the technology and processing of data on natural persons, and due to the rapid technological progress and the boom in the practice of processing personal data compared to the previous Strategy, the need for adopting an improved strategy has been recognized, so on August 25, 2023, the Government of the Republic ofSerbia adopted the Strategy of Personal Data Protection for the period from 2023 until 2030.
As far as the Law on Personal Data Protection is concerned, immediately after the Law started being implemented, the flaws which prevent an effective realization of the right to personal data protection and cause legal uncertainty became aparent and which primarily pertain to insufficiently clear stipulations, especially when it comes to the actions that the competent organs can take and the authorization of the Commissioner, disproportionally low penalties, a range of fields that remain unregulated, such as video surveillance, the processing of biometric data and similar issues, the sector regulations not being harmonized, so it seems that the adopted Strategy arrives at a key moment.
Where is Serbia compared to EU states?
By recognizing the need to adopt the Strategy and giving importance to this issue, like the EU does, the Republic of Serbia is showing a tendency to secure for its citizens the level of rights that EU citizens have in terms of equality and the conditions for realizing the social values on which the modern democratic state is based, such as freedom of opinion and expression, ban on discrimination, personal dignity and so on, so the end goal should secure the formal recognition of Serbia as a country which offers the level of personal data protection equal to what is implemented in the territory of the European Union.
With that, with the simplified flow of information between Serbia and the European Union, the space for an all-encompassing business cooperation and the inclusion of our country in the various markets on the European and world levels is opening. It may sound overly optimistic, but although we are currently far from a harmonized system in this field, with a consistent application and working on the goals of the Strategy, personal data protection on the level of the European Union is not an unattainable goal.
What are the planned activities of the Commissioner that are envisaged in the Strategy?
One of the guarantees of the Strategy is that there will be an improvement of the mechanism of data protection in the form of increasing the capacities of the Commissioner and other handlers and processors, by introducing the program of training in higher education institutions, establishing adequate records, the obligation of adopting internal acts and similar.
The vision that is being strived for is a clear and harmonized legal framework and a strengthened position of the Commissioner as an independent organ, which requires financial, HR and technical resources.
As a result, we should get an expansion of the authorizations of the Commissioner that would carry out the function of supervision and implementation of the second-instance procedure and an increase in the number of regional offices of the Commissioner, along with a higher number of specialized persons.
How can citizens get informed about their rights and mechanisms of protection defined by the Law on Personal Data Protection?
The Strategy starts with identifying key problems and flaws in the entire legal, political and social framework of the Republic of Serbia, with a special focus on the importance of the principle of transparency and responsibility in acting during the processing of personal data, as well as informing the public about this topic, especially about the rights, procedures and mechanisms of protection and institutions in charge of the realization and protection of rights. A step toward the realization of that goal is realized through innovations in school programs, the training of employees, organizing expert consulting sessions, round tables and similar events, as well as increasing the number of visitors of the web presentation in the section: Data Protection and contacting through the official communication channels.
If the made promises are fulfilled, in the next period, through the fulfilment of the goals of the Strategy, a range of campaigns (modeled after the “Keep It Personal” from 2022), forums, seminars and other defined activities which will raise the citizens’ awareness about the importance of this subject will be organized.
Until then, all citizens can get all the necessary information on the website of the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection.
What can you highlight as the special goals of the Strategy?
The Strategy envisages a range of goals which need to be achieved by 2030, so the obtaining of the Decision of the European Commission about adequate personal data protection stands out as the key special goal.
The starting point of the Strategy is to harmonize other laws and bylaws with the stipulations of the Law on Personal Data Protection, so the focus is placed on adopting and improving the laws in the fields which lack adequate guidelines the most, such as the use of video and audio surveillance, the processing of the data obtained by the analysis of biological materials, especially considering genetic and biometric data and the sensitive nature of such data.
It is interesting to also mention the ambitions to regulate the complex issue of the use of artificial intelligence considering the possibility of collecting a large amount of data automatically.
Concrete results and effects of the Strategy are expected in the actual implementation of the Law, especially in terms of the proscribed sanctions for legal persons and a higher degree of involvement and development regarding legal protection from misdemeanors and criminal activities.
Do goals set this way indicate an unsatisfactory situation in practice regarding the sanctioning of the violations of the personal data protection rights?
Unfortunately, the situation in practice is far from the desired one. The fact that, since 2015, at the courts in the Republic of Serbia, only two sentences have been given, and suspended sentences at that, is discouraging enough, and if we add to that the data that, in the past five years, the competent public prosecutor’s office has acted in its capacity as the prosecutor in only two procedures, although its role is to prosecute, ex officio, the perpetrators of criminal acts in the field of data protection, it is clear that a change and the “awakening” of the judicial organs is imperative.
On the other hand, there are numerous misuses. Based on the carried out “Partners Serbia” surveys, which followed 12 media during the 14 cyclically selected days in the April-July 2021 period, 322 articles and features were identified in which the identities of citizens and the data about their private lives were revealed without a public interest. Among the 625 instances of the violation of the right to privacy, in two thirds of the cases, the citizens are the victims, a majority of them being underage persons.
What can we conclude from the abovesaid?
At the end, we conclude that raising awareness of the importance of personal data protection is the foundation stone of the adopted Strategy. The public is interested in seeing the beginning of the realization of the goals and welcoming the tendencies to raise awareness and protect the right to privacy, as well as to redefine the practice in Serbia, so it remains for us to see to which extent the Strategy will fulfill the promises that have been made and the ambitious goals that have been set for the coming period.
Recent Comments