The Personal Data Protection Inspector Reported to the Parliament of Georgia on the Implementation of the Resolution

2018-02-15 17:55:03

Increased number of detected violations, increased number of citizens’ complaints and effective oversight – the Personal Data Protection Inspector delivered a report to the Legal Issues Committee of the Parliament of Georgia on the implementation of the Resolution of the Parliament which was adopted in April, last year and envisaged 6 recommendations.

In her speech, the Inspector spoke about the activities carried out by the Inspector’s office with regard to oversight over public and private organisations, as well as law enforcement sector, video surveillance and awareness-raising activities. As Tamar Kaldani noted, compared to 2016, in 2017 the number of conducted inspections and revealed violations, citizens’ complaints and consultations has increased. The Inspector’s Office studied the lawfulness of data processing in 385 public and private organisations and 266 cases of violations were revealed. The number of provided consultations exceeded 4,800.

In 2017, disclosure of personal data in the process of debt collection remained one of the central concerns of citizens’ complaints. In a number of cases, representatives of debt collecting companies unlawfully revealed the customers’ financial liabilities to their family members, friends and third parties.

Within the reporting period, the Inspector’s Office inspected more than 2,000 video surveillance systems, installed in financial organisations, shops, medical institutions, hotels, municipalities and other public bodies, among others. A number of violations have been revealed. In certain cases, the employers used video surveillance devices not only for legitimate purposes, but also to control the employees. The cases of video monitoring in changing rooms and 

restrooms, that is explicitly prohibited by law, were detected as well.

In order to raise awareness, the Inspector’s Office carried out more than 50 events, including trainings, public lectures and seminars with more than 1,000 attendees overall from public as well as private sector. Personal Data Alphabet was also created – a web platform that brings together 33 pieces of personal data, simply describes the tips of their protection and potential threats. The reach of online campaign to disseminate the alphabet exceeded 500,000.

Annual report with more detailed information regarding revealed violations and subsequent remedies, tendencies and dynamics will be released on 1 March 2018.