In the context of the upcoming elections for the National Assembly on July 11, 2021, pursuant to Art.57, para.1, item 49 of the Electoral Code, the Central Election Commission and the Commission for Personal Data Protection adopted joint guidelines regarding the processing and protection of personal data in the election process.
The document provides clarifications on the current legal framework for personal data protection, as well as on the rights and obligations of all participants in the electoral process – political parties, coalitions of parties, initiative committees, candidates, representatives, observers.
The participants in the election process in their capacity as data controllers are provided with explanations on the principles of personal data processing, the legal grounds for personal data processing, the processing of "sensitive" personal data, terms of personal data storage, compliance with the requirements for data security and information of data subjects, etc.
The document specifically emphasizes that the obligation to register as data controller has been dropped.As of May 25, 2018, this obligation has been dropped for all personal data controllers, not only for the participants in the election process.
The joint guidelines of the CEC and the CPDP provide explanations of the European Commission guidelines published in 2018 on the application of EU law in the field of data protection in the context of elections, which set out some additional obligations for political parties and other participantsin the election process.
The joint guidelines on the processing and protection of personal data in the election process are published HERE.
