The National Centre for Personal Data Protection (NCPDP) organised on 9 February a debate with students and master students from the Moldova State University (USM) in the field of personal data protection.

The theme of the debate was: “Current challenges in the field of personal data protection” which covered the following topics:

   NCPDP – Data Protection Authority;

  What is personal data;

  Principles of personal data protection;

  Rights of personal data subjects and how to apply them;

  Elementary application measures for personal data security and privacy;

   National and international practice concerning the cases examined in the field of personal data protection.

The aim of the debate was to make students and master students understand the challenges they are facing in the current period related to the field of personal data protection.

The debate was attended by about 35 students from the second, third and fourth year of studies, as well as master students of the Law Faculty of USM. All those present in the hall showed interest in the topics discussed and asked questions to the representative of the NCPDP.

This activity is part of the action plan approved by the NCPDP in the context of Data Protection Day, which is marked annually on 28 January in the European community and beyond.

On February 9, 2023, in Strasbourg, H.E Ambassador Daniela Cujbă, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Moldova to the Council of Europe, signed the Protocol amending the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data (CETS No.223), which was adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 18 May 2018 and opened for signature on 10 October 2018.

The amending Protocol modernises and improves the Convention (ETS No 108), taking into account the new challenges in ensuring the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data that have emerged since the adoption of Convention 108 in 1981.

The Protocol provides a robust and flexible multilateral legal framework to facilitate cross-border data flows while providing effective safeguards when personal data are used. The Treaty addresses the challenges to privacy arising from the use of new information and communication technologies and strengthens the mechanism of the Convention to ensure its effective implementation.

The Republic of Moldova is the 45th state to sign the Protocol amending the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data. So far, the Protocol has been ratified by 21 states.

On 1 February 2023, the National Centre for Personal Data Protection (NCPDP) in collaboration with the General Police Inspectorate (IGP) started the training cycle in the context of signing the Training Plan agreed by the Parties on 25 January this year.

In this context, about 60 employees from the Anenii Noi Police Inspectorate were trained.

The training course aimed to increase the police body’s awareness of personal data protection principles and to ensure the correct implementation/application of data protection legal provisions in their work.

Several important topics were covered in the training course, including:

–    The legal way of personal data processing in the work carried out by the IGP;

–    Obligations of the police body as data controller in relation to the data subject;

–   The requirements for personal data protection in the exercise of official duties;

–    Legal aspects of personal data processing through video surveillance systems;

–   Correct procedure for accessing personal data through State Information Systems and keeping correct audit records of such accesses;

–    Personal data security and confidentiality measures, etc.

In addition to what was presented by the representative of the NCPDP, the representative of the IGP pointed out certain aspects of police activity provided for in the internal regulations of IGP.

The training course proved to be quite interactive, as the participants asked the trainers many questions, to which they received answers.

On 31 January 2023, the National Centre for Personal Data Protection (NCPDP) trained representatives of libraries in the mun. Chișinău and other districts of the Republic in the field of personal data protection.

The request for organizing the training course came from the Technical-Scientific Republican Library of the National Institute of Economic Research in mun. Chișinău, in the context of the “Data Protection Day” on 28 January.

The theme of the training course was “Personal data protection measures in the libraries”. The aim of the course was to increase the perception of library employees with the field of personal data protection.

The training covered the following topics:

– General notions in the field of personal data protection;

– Legal grounds for personal data processing;

– Processing of special categories of personal data;

– Personal data security and confidentiality measures.

The training course was organised in a hybrid format and was attended by about 80 participants.

At the end of the course, the trainers provided answers to all questions given by the participants.

On 28 January 2023, the National Center for Personal Data Protection (the Center) held the meeting of the Consultative Council to the National Center for Personal Data Protection.

The meeting was opened and chaired by Ms Victoria MUNTEAN, Director of the Center, and President of the Consultative Council.

Within the event, the results of the Center’s work and the main achievements in terms of personal data protection in 2022 and the objectives for the next period were briefly presented.

At the same time, the protection of personal data in the context of the exercise of the right to freedom of expression and the right of access to information by media representatives was discussed, followed by mention of the pressing problems faced by the institution and proposals for optimizing and improving the work of the Center.

The Council meeting was an interactive one, the members coming up with proposals and suggestions to improve the situation.

In this context, the members of the Council highlighted that all areas of activity, such as justice, medical, banking, social protection, economic, etc. interfere with the field of personal data protection and, in this respect, the need to amend the legislation in this field, in line with the new EU standards, is very important.

At the end, the members of the Consultative Council appreciated the efforts of the Center in terms of the results achieved during the period of activity and outlined the need to continue working together at institutional level in order to develop effective mechanisms for the protection of personal data in the Republic of Moldova.

Every year on 28 January, the European community celebrates “Data Protection Day”. This year it is celebrated the 42nd anniversary of Convention No 108 for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data, adopted in Strasbourg on 28 January 1981, and the 17th anniversary of this Day.

The purpose of Convention No 108 is to secure in the territory of each State Party for every individual, whatever his nationality or residence, respect for his rights and fundamental freedoms, and in particular his right to privacy, with regard to automatic processing of personal data re

The Republic of Moldova signed Convention No 108 on 4 May 1998 and ratified it by Parliament Decision No 483-XIV of 2 July 1999.

On 26 April 2006, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe decided to launch a Data Protection Day, to be celebrated every year on 28 January.

In this regard, Council of Europe member states and not only, organize every year various activities and public events to mark the day. The Republic of Moldova celebrates this event together with all European countries.

Although the field of personal data protection is a relatively new one for the Moldovan society, nevertheless, we have managed in the last decade to make a lot of progress in ensuring respect for the right to privacy, as well as to align the  national legislation with European standards in the field of personal data protection.

Our role as the National Personal Data Protection Authority becomes more and more important and the annual celebration of this day is an opportunity to bring to the attention of the public the importance of respecting the principles of personal data protection, the right to privacy with regard to the protection of personal data.

Every year on 28 January, the European community celebrates “Data Protection Day”. In this regard, the National Centre for Personal Data Protection (NCPDP) has organised an information street activity on 27 January 2023.

A group of NCPDP’s employees went nearby the Arc of Triumph in mun. Chisinau, where they distributed information materials to passers-by, informing them about “Data Protection Day”, the concept of personal data, the rights of data subjects, security and confidentiality measures when processing data. At the same time, they were informed about the possible situations in which personal data are not processed in accordance with the provisions of national legislation in this field, providing them with practical guidance and recommendations that should be undertaken in such situations.

We remind you that the street activity was organized in order to raise society’s awareness in the field of personal data protection, in accordance with the Action Plan approved by the NCPDP in the context of Data Protection Day celebration.

The National Center for Personal Data Protection (NCPDP), for information and application purposes, communicates about the administrative fine in the amount of 8 million euros applied by the French Data Protection Authority (CNIL) to APPLE DISTRIBUTION INTERNATIONAL for the illegally processing of personal data.

The CNIL carried out several investigations in 2021 and 2022, following a complaint concerning the ad personalization in the App Store, in order to verify compliance with the applicable regulations. The CNIL services found that under the old version 14.6 of the operating system of the iPhone, when a user visited the App Store, identifiers used for several purposes, including personalization of ads on the App Store, were by default automatically read on the terminal without obtaining consent of the subject concerned.

Following the investigations, CNIL found a breach of Article 82 of the French Data Protection Act and imposed a fine of 8 million euros on APPLE DISTRIBUTION INTERNATIONAL. The amount of this fine was established based on the analysis of the following criteria: by the scope of the processing limited to the Apple Store, the number of people concerned in France, the profits the company made from advertising revenues indirectly generated from data collected by these identifiers as well as the fact that, in the meantime, the company has reached compliance/adjusted such processing of personal data.

The NCPDP, as national supervisory authority for personal data processing, emphasizes the responsibility of personal data controllers to comply with the provisions of legal framework on personal data protection and to ensure that personal data processing operations are in accordance with the legislation in force.

The National Center for Personal Data Protection (NCPDP), for information and application purposes, communicates about administrative fine in the amount of 230 000 euros applied by the Finnish Data Protection Authority (SA) to Viking Line for unlawful processing of employees’ health data.

The Finnish SA investigated Viking Line activities on the basis of a complaint. A former employee of Viking Line informed the Finnish SA that they had not received all their personal data being stored in the company’s systems despite their request. According to the employee, Viking Line had been keeping their health data in an HR system for 20 years. Furthermore, some diagnosis information stored was inaccurate.

Following the investigations, it was found that saving diagnosis information in connection with other employment-related data is against the law. In addition, health data should also have been erased immediately when its storage was no longer necessary. At the same time, Viking Line had not informed its employees appropriately of the processing of their personal data.

In this context, an administrative fine of 230 000 euros was imposed on Viking Line for several violations of data protection legislation. At the same time, the Finnish SA ordered the company to correct its practices and inform its employees of the processing of their personal data as required by the GDPR.

The NCPDP, as national supervisory authority for personal data processing, emphasizes the responsibility of personal data controllers to comply with the provisions of legal framework on personal data protection and to ensure that personal data processing operations are in accordance with the legislation in force.

The National Center for Personal Data Protection (NCPDP), for information and application purposes, communicates about the fine in the amount of 5 million euros applied by the French Data Protection Authority (CNIL) to social network TIKTOK for the illegally processing of personal data.

Between May 2020 and June 2022, the CNIL carried out several online investigations on the “tiktok.com” website in an unlogged session, and not on the mobile application. Following the investigations, it was found that although the companies TIKTOK UK and TIKTOK IRELAND did offer a button allowing immediate acceptance of cookies, they did not put in place an equivalent solution to allow the Internet user to refuse their deposit as easily.

On the basis of the findings, the CNIL concluded that TIKTOK INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES UK LIMITED (TIKTOK UK) and TIKTOK TECHNOLOGY LIMITED (TIKTOK IRELAND) had failed to comply with the obligations set out in Article 82 of the French Data Protection Act, this process infringed the freedom of consent of Internet users and users were not informed in a sufficiently precise manner of the purposes of the cookies, either on the first-level information banner or in the context of the choice interface accessible after clicking on a link in the banner.

In this context, the CNIL applied a fine of 5 million euros to the social network TIKTOK. The amount of this fine was decided on the basis of the breaches identified, the number of people concerned – including minors – and the numerous previous communications from the CNIL on the fact that it must be as simple to refuse cookies as to accept them.

The NCPDP, as national supervisory authority for personal data processing, emphasizes the responsibility of personal data controllers to comply with the provisions of legal framework on personal data protection and to ensure that personal data processing operations are in accordance with the legislation in force.