Personal Data Protection under the Association Agreement with EU

2014-06-26 14:01:41

On June 27, 2014 the European Union will sign Association Agreements with Georgia and the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. Being extremely important document, the agreement focuses on democracy and rule of law. Signature of this document is a forward step on the way to European integration.

The Association Agreement defines the areas where progressive reforms should be undertaken in close cooperation with the EU. “After signing Association Agreement, EU and Georgia will cooperate in the fields of national reforms such as increasing the rule of law, judicial reforms, fight against corruption, respect for fundamental rights and freedoms and strengthening democratic institutions.” – is mentioned in the EU special statement.

Association Agreement imposes the obligation upon Georgia to establish high standards of personal data protection in the country. According to the Agreement, the parties agree to cooperate in order to ensure a high level of protection of personal data in compliance with the European Union, Council of Europe and other international legal instruments.

In terms of data protection, under Association Agreement Georgia commits to implement the EU standards, that implies enhancing and harmonizing national legislative framework with EU data protection standards, implementing the refined legislation in practice, increasing legitimacy and independency of the supervisory authority – Inspector and its Office, lawful processing of personal data by public and private organizations, etc.

Association Agreement also foresees application of data protection standards to the data processing for police purposes and establishment of respective external control mechanism thereon.