Summary
The research of the legal and institutional frameworks in Macedonia in terms of privacy aimed to evaluate the current situation and opportunities offered by these frameworks for the protection of citizens’ individual privacy. The research also provided a reference framework and methodology for conducting future researches and projects in this field.
The identification of laws and bylaws affecting the right to privacy – particularly the ones regulating the personal data collection, processing, transfer and storage, can actually help citizens (who are not legal experts) to easily identify the methods, laws and institutions that may compromise their privacy.
Research Results
Experts are unanimous that the protection of personal data and citizens’ privacy is just as important as raising the citizens’ awareness about their privacy. They also agree that the legislation guaranteeing personal data protection, and the projected technical and technological measures in Macedonia are satisfactory, but according to the experts, the problem lies in the application of the laws.
Experts believe the situation with privacy in Macedonia is not quite satisfactory, although it is constantly improving. They identified several methods and target groups that we need to focus on, because the situation with the protection of privacy and personal data is a societal problem that must not be ignored.
The analysis of the laws indicates that a number of laws do not stipulate clear and specific deadlines for the period of storing citizens’ personal data. Also, a request for consent for data collection is not stipulated in most of the laws regulating personal data collection, and there are also laws failing to meet almost all of the criteria for protection of privacy and personal data.
According to the analysis, there are also laws that comply with the principles of the Law on Personal Data Protection, prescribing specific deadlines and purposes for personal data collection, i.e. fulfilling the criteria of the law analysis, and complying with EU recommendations.
The analysis resulted with recommendations for various areas and specific laws. These recommendations indicate the need for introducing amendments to some of the articles of these laws, or for introducing new articles, thereby guaranteeing the privacy of the citizens when their personal data is being collected, stored, processed and transferred in accordance with these laws.