Citizens, regardless of age, should be responsible when they publish or provide their personal data, appeals from the Agency for the Protection of Personal Data, indicating that the number of abuses is increasing every year.

– All citizens, regardless of age, should be responsible when publishing personal data. We often see how in order to exercise rights, receive awards, when they apply for something or to go on a trip, they exchange their data with great ease, even pictures and ID cards. Unfortunately, some of them have suffered or will suffer monetary loss, damage to reputation and honor, sometimes even costing one's life. That is why it is necessary for all of us to behave responsibly in relation to our actions, emphasized Slobodanka Slavkovska, senior supervisor from the Personal Data Protection Agency (AZLP) during the commemoration of the European Day for the Protection of Personal Data.

Every year on January 28, the European Day for the Protection of Personal Data is celebrated, on the anniversary of the adoption of the Convention of the Council of Europe on the Protection of Personal Data, the first legally binding international document in the field of personal data. The protection of personal data in our country is also guaranteed by the Constitution, and in February 2020 a new Law on the Protection of Personal Data was adopted. The purpose of this law, in addition to harmonizing the national legislation with the General Regulation for the Protection of Personal Data (GDPR) of the European Union, was to respond to the challenges caused by the increased use of digital tools in the processing of personal data.

The European day for the protection of personal data was marked yesterday in our country, and the authorities and representatives of the EU appealed for the consistent implementation of the Law on the protection of personal data. AZLP, as its director Imer Aliu pointed out, is also facing a shortage of employees.

AZLP reminded all ministries and institutions that the legal decisions and by-laws they prepare should be submitted to them for their opinion.

At the conference organized on the occasion of the European Day, Slavkovska pointed out that last year there were several legal solutions for which there were negative reactions in the public, and for which the Agency was not consulted at all.

Regarding the violation of the security of personal data, especially when the rights and freedom of citizens are threatened, Slavkovska also reminded that all controllers and processors have a deadline of 72 hours from learning of the violation to notify the Agency and in certain situations to notify the concerned citizens.

Regarding the controllers, that is, the owners of the data, she said that when using new technologies, the controllers should be responsible and transparent when processing personal data.

- We have witnessed that our fellow citizens suffered material damage because a controller behaved irresponsibly and did not apply adequate measures to protect personal data, she pointed out.

Citizens and legal entities can report violations or misuse of personal data through the AZLP website, which recently has a new website developed with the help of the EU.

- Conceptually, the website is divided into two essential parts, one dedicated to the citizens and the other to the controllers. Guidance is offered in both sections. In particular, among citizens, how to protect their personal data in case they suspect that it has been misused, while among controllers, we focused more on issues related to the implementation of the Law on Personal Data Protection, said Slavkovska.

On the website you can find examples from practice and links to additional literature related to the specific content – ​​guides, information and videos. The website also contains forms and services offered by the Agency.

- In the case of controllers, for example, in addition to the forms that are arranged and provided for by the regulations for the protection of personal data, we also provided additional forms that we prepared within the framework of the twinning project. We will publish new forms very soon, Srbinovska announced.

Polls on various current issues will also be published very soon.

Citizens and officers for the protection of personal data will be able to submit certain requests through the website, forms for self-evaluation are also provided.

AZLP will soon start a procedure for a new work strategy, for which a call for participation will be sent to all stakeholders on the website.