What government does

The Operative Analytical Centre under the aegis of President advocated improvement of the system of personal data protection in Belarus. Anatoli Matsveyeu, the head of the department of the OAC, stated it in the course the conference "Information protection technologies and informational safety of organisations", held on March 31th, 2015. He drew attention to the fact that legislation on personal data protection is fragmented, and expressed an opinion that a state body should be defined which would control and supervise the fulfillment of requirements for personal data protection.

It is significant that the Presidential Decree №5310 was passed on December 31th, 2015, which approved the plan of preparation of draft bills in 2016. According to the plan, the National Centre for Legislation and Legal Research should prepare the concept of the law of the Republic of Belarus "On personal data" by October 2016; this concept should be submitted for approval to the President by September 2017.

We do not consider these actions to be sufficient; this initiative all the more cannot be called a timely one. But it is important for us that the state has finally become aware of importance of the law on personal data protection to be passed, and the situation was set in motion.

We think that the experience accumulated by European states, which are leaders in this issue, should be examined during the preparation of the concept of the law. It is also significant to take into account national peculiarities, which are reflected in the materials prepared by Belarusian human rights organisations.