Office of the Personal Data Protection Inspector celebrates its 2 years anniversary

2015-07-01 15:41:38

On July 1, 2015 two years have passed since the establishment of the Georgian Data Protection Authority. During these 2 years, the independence of the Inspector increased and accountability towards Parliament was ensured, the mandate of the Georgian DPA extended and now it covers data processing by the private sector companies and law enforcement agencies as well.

In total, 1550 consolations were provided, 61 citizens’ complaints were considered, 50 organizations were inspected, 17 violations were revealed, 11 organizations were fined and 3 organizations were warned. For execution of the personal data protection law different measures were taken, inter alia restriction of access to databases, termination of processing, deletion and destruction of data.

2253 public and private sector representatives were trained, thematic recommendations were issued on video surveillance, direct marketing, processing of biometric data and the protection of data in labor relations, the list of countries ensuring adequate level of data protection was approved. In light of the extended mandate the budget of the Office and staff number increased, currently, there are 36 persons employed.

With active participation of the Office of the Personal Data Protection Inspector Visa Liberalization Action Plan benchmarks were completely fulfilled. According to the 3rd Progress Report of the European Commission the Office of the Inspector operates effectively.

“These two years were extremely important not only in terms of developing state policy and reforms in the field of privacy, but also in terms of institutional development of the Office. We managed to create a citizen-oriented system and we believe that our hard work, increased public interest, recognition of the importance of personal data protection by public and private institutions will bring the results. We are aware that systematic discrepancies cannot be fully eradicated within two years, but we are actively working on implementation of efficient mechanisms for data protection”- stated Mrs. Tamar Kaldani, Personal Data Protection Inspector