On May 27, the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information held an online discussion on the Challenges of Personal Data Protection in Georgia and the presentation of a report - "Brief Overview of Recent Developments in the Field of Personal Data Protection." 

Levan Avalishvili, Programs Director at the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information, Londa Toloraia, State Inspector, Yvonne Gogoll -Team Leader for Human Rights, Justice, and Home Affairs at the EU Delegation to Georgia and Gigi Bregadze, Democratic Governance Team Leader at UNDP, addressed the participants with welcoming speeches.

“I would like to congratulate all the participants on the Independence Day of Georgia and wish our country success, including in the process of rapprochement with the European Union, one of the main and important components of which is the protection of human rights, the protection of the standards that the country needs to successfully pass this process, and one of the important parts of this issue is the protection of personal data in our country and the implementation of the national strategy and action plan for human rights, that we have set and a very important part of which is to ensure the protection of personal data and also to maintain a balance between freedom of expression and this very important right.“- noted Levan Avalishvili.

State Inspector Londa Toloraia spoke about the challenges in the field of personal data protection. She stressed the need to adopt the draft law on "Personal Data Protection" submitted to the Parliament and to sign the modernized 108+ Convention of the Council of Europe. The State Inspector emphasized the importance of the presented report for strengthening personal data protection and noted:

“We are ready to cooperate with everyone, including the non-governmental sector, international organizations, and Ms. Tamar's research will be very interesting to me to see even better where we are and what steps we need to take to move forward in this direction."

Team Leader for Human Rights at the EU Delegation to Georgia Yvonne Gogol spoke of the need to strengthen the right to privacy and strengthen security measures, especially in the ongoing digitization process as a result of pandemic measures. 

"We are pleased to support the development of personal data protection in Georgia and Georgia's aspiration to follow European standards" - she said. 

Democratic Governance Team Leader at UNDP - Gigi Bregadze focused on the role of the State Inspector's Service in the process of ensuring the protection of personal data and the legislative reforms that Georgia needs to implement: 

"I would like to emphasize the special role of the State Inspector in the field of personal data protection and in general, in the democratic development of Georgia. The importance and impact of this Service on the daily life of people in the field of personal data protection is great. The IDFI report confirms that the implementation of appropriate reforms and the strengthening of the inspector's functions are a special priority” - he said.

Tamar Kaldani, the author of the report and a personal data protection expert, spoke about the achievements and challenges in the field of personal data protection, as well as the relevant recommendations. She also assessed the progress of the implementation of the main priorities set out in the Association Agenda and the government's National Strategy for the Protection of Human Rights.

The publication was prepared with the assistance of the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Its contents are the sole responsibility of the author, Tamar Kaldani, the expert of personal data protection, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the EU and UNDP.

A full recording of the presentation is available here.