State Inspector’s Service issues recommendations on the protection of personal data during the election process
By Khatia Bzhalava
Tuesday, September 22
The State Inspector’s Service published a document that aims to protect personal data during the election process and prevent the unlawful processing of the data. The document includes recommendations for the voters, election entities, and all individuals involved in the election process.
According to the document, protecting the rights of voters, including the protection of their data is a crucial component for the conduction of free and democratic elections. As it is noted, during the elections, ‘ordinary’ as well as ‘special category’ data are being processed. Information that refers to the political views of an individual is a data of ‘special category’ and requires special protections. The list of voters requires proper caution as well, and "should be used only for legitimate purposes provided by the law."
The State Inspector’s Service calls on voters, every person involved in the election process, election entities to fairly process personal data in their possession, not to use them for unlawful purposes, to process data of only adequate and proportional volume, and to delete or destroy collected data after the goal of processing is achieved.
To assure the protection of voters’ data and prevent possible violations in the 2020 Parliamentary Election, State Inspection’s Service is actively carrying out various measures. SIS has already trained the representatives and employees of the Central Election Commission and District Election Commission on the issues of protecting personal data and has assigned a group that will consult the employees of the Central Administration Commission on personal data protection issues. An information document has been developed as well, which will assist voters and individuals/subjects involved in electoral processes on the above- mentioned topics.
In parallel with the mentioned measures, the State Inspection’s Service will also react to the violation of legislation, responsible for regulating personal data.
As the statement published by State Inspections Service informs, in cooperation with the Council of Europe, employees of the SIS underwent a 2-day training regarding the European standards of data protection. The course included the decisions and approaches of the European Court of Human Rights in respect of the 8th convention. The training included discussion on the following matters: processing of personal data during photo-video shooting while conducting secret operations while requesting data from the law enforcement agencies and issuing public information.
The training was implemented with the assistance of the Council of Europe project Supporting Freedom of Media and Internet in Georgia and was led by an expert invited by the Council of Europe, Nana Mchedlidze. Within the frame of the training, the State Inspector, Londa Toloraia, and Vahag Muradian, deputy head at the Council of Europe in Tbilisi delivered a speech to the participants.
