International Conference: “The State of Personal Data Protection and Its Legal Aspects in Georgia”

2023-03-01 19:28:59
On March 1, the Personal Data Protection Service of Georgia held an international scientific Conference called: "The State of Personal Data Protection and its Legal Aspects in Georgia".

With the mentioned Conference, the Service celebrated its anniversary - one year since its establishment.

The event was opened by the President of the Personal Data Protection Service of Georgia, Prof. Dr. Dr. Lela Janashvili, who summarized last year’s activities of the Service and reviewed the challenges in the field.

According to Prof. Dr. Dr. Lela Janashvili, in the past year, the Service held numerous meetings and activities at the local and international levels, the purpose of which was to increase the institutional awareness of the Service, strengthen cooperation with the counterpart supervisory authorities and international organizations in the field of personal data protection, and institutional development of the Service.  

In her speech, Prof. Dr. Dr. Lela Janashvili drew attention to several important activities carried out by the Service:

  • The establishment of a culture of personal data protection and raising public awareness is the mission of the Service and one of the important priorities. To that end, during the reporting period, the Service actively held information meetings, public lectures and training sessions for representatives of the private or public sector, and law enforcement bodies; Various activities - including contests for representatives of the educational field, information meetings in the regions of Georgia;
  • It should be noted that for the first time in the history of the Georgian data protection authority, a bilingual, scientific, periodical publication – “Journal of Personal Data Protection Law” was established and the first issue dedicated to the International Day of Data Protection was published;
  • It should be emphasized that in November, in Tbilisi, the annual international forum ─ "European Case Handling Workshop” was held at a high level, hosted by the Personal Data Protection Service of Georgia, the purpose of which was sharing the best practices in the field of privacy and personal data protection;
  • The Service developed the “Strategy of Institutional Strengthening of the Personal Data Protection Service of Georgia”, which forms the future vision of the institutional development of the Service and defines the main strategic tasks and activities. This ensures the fulfillment of point 4 of the 12-point recommendations of the European Commission, which concerns equipping the newly established Personal Data Protection Service of Georgia with the resources that correspond to its mandate and ensures its institutional independence. In this regard, it should be stressed the establishment of a representative office in the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, which will officially start functioning in the nearest future. Regarding internal institutional development, it is worth highlighting the Department of Planned Inspections, which was established at the beginning of this year.
After the President of the Personal Data Protection Service of Georgia, the Chairman of the Human Rights and Civil Integration Committee of the Parliament of Georgia – Mr. Mikheil Sarjveladze, addressed the audience with a welcome speech. Prof. Dr. Tamar Zarandia, Dean of the Faculty of Law of Iv. Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University also addressed the audience with a welcome speech. 

The Conference was divided into 4-panel sessions, within the framework of which the participants of the event were presented with reports by representatives of the Personal Data Protection Service, as well as the judicial corps, representatives of the academic field, and expert circles. Presented topics related to the legal status of the Personal Data Protection Service of Georgia, issues of personal data protection of minors, corporate governance, and judicial practice.

Mr. Leonardo Cervera Navas, Director of the Office of the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), participated remotely in the Conference as a special guest.

The concluding part of the Conference was devoted to question/answer and discussion.