EU4DigitalUA and Office of the Ombudsman present the Personal Data Protection Guidelines

To mark International Personal Data Protection Day on 28 January, the project EU4DigitalUA, financed by the European Union, and the Office of the Ombudsman of Ukraine present the Guidelines on Personal Data Protection for Public Authorities (https://bit.ly/3DgzlbS).

The process of digital transformation in the public administration system is accelerating and more and more administrative services are available online. New technological solutions involve the processing and analysis of a large pool of information that contains personal data. Thus, risks for human rights and, in particular, those related to unauthorized leaks of personal data are increasing.

“Protecting our privacy is part of Europe’s DNA. Today, European data protection rules have become the gold standard and a model followed in many parts of the globe. EU4DigitalUA aims to use the best European practises to facilitate the improvement of personal data protection realisation in Ukraine”, says Maria Gaston Betran, FIIAPP Technical Institutional Coordinator of EU4DigitalUA

In this regard, experts of the EU4DigitalUA project, in cooperation with representatives of the Office of Ombudsman developed clarifications on the necessary steps for state authorities to structure their work with personal data.

Key Expert on Personal Data Protection Andrew Nikolaev notes: “Against the background of the rapid development of technology, when personal information has become a valuable commodity, the personal data protection system is designed to ensure that technology remains human-friendly, and everyone has some private space. Thus, EU4DigitalUA experts, in cooperation with the Ombudsman’s Office, are working so that Ukraine can ensure an adequate level of personal data protection in accordance with the highest European and international standards, such as Conversion 108+ and GDPR”.

Following GDPR standards, guidelines provide answers to practical questions regarding the processing and protection of confidential information illustrating information with real-life situations including cases from various European Union countries. Thus, the document helps to understand the essence and provisions of the law in detail.

Given the new challenges that Ukraine will face in 2022, recommendations in the field of personal data protection are of particular importance. The guidelines developed in cooperation with the EU4DigitalUA project will help strengthen the awareness of state authorities and prevent leaks of personal data, – says the Representative of the Commissioner for Human Rights Yulia Derkachenko of the Secretariat of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights.