Work group on amendment of data protection legislation commences work
22. June 05
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The task of the work group, which gathered for the first time today, is to revise the State Secrets Act, the Public Information Act and the Personal Data Protection Act and to modernise the definitions of protected, limited access and public information as well as their regulation.
According to the initial plans the Public Information Act will be amended, while the Personal Data Protection Act and the State Secrets Act will be completely updated.
"If in a small country like Estonia several scandals erupt regarding keeping state secrets or various institutions prove to be unable to implement the Personal Data Protection Act over several years in spite of the precepts of the Data Protection Inspectorate, it is obvious that the respective laws need to be revised and updated," noted Mr. Rein Lang, the head of the work group and the Minister of Justice. "Information technology has developed immensely over the recent years. On the one hand, it makes our lives more comfortable, but on the other hand, it involves various risks related to protection of personal data. This must be taken into account upon legislative drafting as well."
The work group is divided into three sub-groups, each of them attending to one act. The initial proposals for amendment of the acts will be made by the work groups by November 1.
Kristi Künnapas Public Relations Division Ministry of Justice Phone 6 208 118 Mobile phone 56 215672
