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Luxembourg Technical Assistance Programme for Serbia: Seminar on EU Data Protection (Belgrade, 29-30 May 2018)
Within the framework of the Luxembourg Technical Assistance Programme for Serbia “Strengthening Capacities to Implement EU Law”, financed by the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the European Institute for Public Administration- European Centre for Judges and Lawyers in Luxembourg organised, in cooperation with the Ministry of European Integration of the Republic of Serbia, on 29-30 May 2018 in Belgrade a seminar on EU Data Protection in the field of Justice and Law Enforcement.
The seminar was delivered by Gabriela Ivan-Cucu, Lawyer and Researcher. The participants were national public officials, lawyers and non-lawyers, from the Serbian Ministry of European Integration, Ministry of Justice, Public Prosecutor’s Office, Ministry of Interior and the Office of the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection.
The seminar focused on the particularities of data protection rules in the context of national and cross-border exchange of personal data for law enforcement purposes.
The European data protection legal framework has been the subject of a recent reform meant to bring its guarantees up to date with the challenges of the realities of the digital society. The reformed package of the EU data protection rules has resulted into two key pieces of legislation, a General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) adopted on 24 May 2016, applicable as of 25 May 2018 and a specific Directive on the protection of data of natural persons in the area of police and justice, adopted on 5 May 2016, applicable as of 6 May 2018, also known as ‘the Law Enforcement Directive’. The seminar presented mainly the rules relevant to the processing of personal data by competent authorities for the purposes of the prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of criminal offences or the execution of criminal penalties, and on the free movement of such data with 3rd countries and international organisations.
The gradual evolution of regulation in this field was introduced with the use of case studies drawn from landmark decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg.
The participants in the seminar showed a high interest in this topic especially due to the current ongoing debates at national level for the reform of the Serbian legislation on personal data protection.
The content of the seminar contributes to enhancing the expertise of Serbian officials in their activities within the accession process to the EU.