30 December 2015, Prishtina

The Regional Conference titled “Privacy in the Digital Era” marked the highest public activity of the concluding year.
The Agency is concluding successfully this year and in addition to the daily work, during this year it has paid special attention to capacity building of officials for personal data protection, in order that through them to expand the network for monitoring the implementation of the Law on Protection of Personal Data. Continuous training were conducted for this category of officials, in cooperation with EU IPA Project.
In addition, during this year, were realized 42 notifications for registration from controlling entities of public and private sector.
Due to noncompliance with the law, upon recommendation by NAPPD, the Basic Court has fined two big companies, one for direct marketing and the other for failure to take legal safety measures during processing the data of citizens.
In May, at the session of the conference held in Durres, the Agency joined the group of authorities for data protection of Central and Eastern Europe. Membership in this forum shall enable the NAPPD to benefit from the experience of countries of the region in raising the awareness of citizens regarding protection of their privacy and in improving the knowledge required for fulfilling its obligations related to protection of personal data and privacy, in accordance with international legislation and best practices.
In the second part of the year, in addition to intensive inspections, the Agency continued with awareness-raising activities, in order to inform the citizens about its role. To this end, the Agency conducted an eye-to-eye survey with citizens, which showed that Kosovo citizens are not informed about privacy, authority for implementing the Law on Protection of Personal Data and the issue of personal data in general. Based on the findings of the survey conducted in Prishtina in July, another awareness-raising event was organized, in light of which informative material such as brochures, manuals and other materials were distributed to citizens of the main municipalities in Kosovo.
In the last month of 2015, working groups were established to amend a number of bylaws of the Agency. Moreover, the Agency published a guide on video surveillance in educational institutions, a manual for the officials responsible for personal data protection, as well as the general curriculum for officials responsible for personal data protection.
Despite budgetary barriers in achieving more objectives set for this year, the Agency has managed to respond to the concerns of citizens, addressing their requests and claims, it supported data controllers by guiding them through recommendations and opinions to ensure that their daily work does not interfere with the provisions of the LPPD.
As emphasized by the Chief State Supervisor Mr. Ruzhdi Jashari in his end of year speech to the Agency staff, ‘challenges to privacy protection are increasing with the rapid development of technology and at the same time NAPPD is mobilizing its staff by investing in intellectual capacity building to serve as a legal shield against violations of the privacy of citizens and controllers’.