The Agency for the Protection of Personal Data (AZLP) at the request of the Municipal Election Commission (MEC) of Rožaje issued an opinion according to which, among other things, the photocopying of voter lists without protection of the identity number does not constitute a violation of the law.
AZLP and the State Election Commission (SEC), as well as the two organizations that monitor the elections - the Center for Democratic Transition (CDT) and the Center for Monitoring and Research (CeMI), did not answer the questions of "Vijesti", and the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP ) said that they are not competent to give an opinion in this regard.
The Center for Civil Liberties (CEGAS) responded to the "News" and said that "when copying those lists, strict care must be taken to anonymize JMBG".
MEC Rožaje turned to the Agency for an opinion back in February. At that time, they stated that they had received a request from the representatives of the candidates for the electoral lists of presidential candidates for inspection and photocopying of election materials, and above all voter lists, related to the elections for the election of the President of Montenegro, which were held on March 19.
According to their statement, the MEC approved the inspection and photocopying of voter lists, but during the photocopying, it protected the citizens' identity numbers. In order to be sure that they acted correctly, they contacted the Agency.
The agency, however, in its opinion submitted in mid-April, stated that "the inspection and photocopying of excerpts from voter lists... without anonymizing JMB is not in violation of the Personal Data Protection Act."
Commenting on such an opinion, the executive director of CEGAS Marija Popović Kalezić she told "Vijesti" that "it is not the first time that the personal data of citizens find themselves in the abyss of different interpretations of legal norms".
"Without adequate protection and a logical sequence and answer to the question - how to get to those responsible in case of abuse? The case of giving the voter list to the representatives of the applicants for the electoral lists is something that is guaranteed by the Law, as well as a copy of it, with the difference of anonymization in order to protect personal data. To say the least, the decision of the AZLP that without protecting the personal data of citizens, the municipal election commissions provide copies of the voter list, is surprising," she said.
According to her, it is clear that based on the Law on the Election of Councilors and Members of Parliament, the process of providing access to the voter list gives the possibility of direct inspection, as well as copies, but that when copying, strict care must be taken by the handlers of the collection of personal data and processors of personal data.
"And all with the aim of protecting personal data and preventing their misuse. Based on Article 24 of the Personal Data Protection Act, it is clear that "the manager of the collection of personal data and the processor of personal data are obliged to provide technical, personnel and organizational measures for the protection of personal data, in order to protect against loss, destruction, unauthorized access, change, publication, as well as from abuse'. "I believe that it is not legally objectionable to give voter lists to the representatives of the electoral roll submitters, but when copying these lists, strict care must be taken to anonymize the JMBG," Popović Kalezić told "Vijesta".
As she added, in such cases, the question is "how many people have access to a copy of the voter list, with all personal data, including the citizen's registration number, as well as on what basis the secrecy and the impossibility of misuse of this data are protected".
"The law on the protection of personal data clearly and unequivocally prohibits the distribution or any other form of publication of personal data that includes the unique identity number, which employees in municipal election commissions, as well as other institutions, are obliged to protect," said Popović Kalezić.
In the opinion given by the IOK Rožaje, from the Agency for the Protection of Personal Data, among other things, they stated that, according to Article 77 of the Law on the Election of Councilors and Members of Parliament, representatives of candidates for election lists and candidates for councilors and members of parliament have the right to inspect election materials, "and especially in excerpts from voter lists, voting board minutes, election commission minutes and ballots".
"Inspection is carried out in the official premises of the election commission, as well as at the bodies where the election materials are located. Also, in accordance with paragraph 4 of this article, at the request of the applicant of the electoral list, the authorities where the election material is located are obliged to approve its photocopying at the expense of the applicant. The Law on the Voter List prescribes data on voters who are entered in the voter list ("In the voter list, the unique ordinal number of the file under which the entry in the voter list was made, personal name of the voter, BMB, date and place of birth, citizenship, gender, place of residence and address...)", the Agency's opinion states.
They add that, accordingly, "there is no doubt that the purpose of personal data and the method of its processing are prescribed by a special law that also determines the operator of the collection of personal data, that the representatives of the applicants of electoral lists have the right to inspect the election materials..."
"And especially in the excerpts from the voter lists, that at the request of the applicants of the electoral list, the authorities where the electoral material is located are obliged to approve its photocopying, that the voter's name, among other things, is entered in the voter list, and that, in the end, it is not required anonymization - blacking out JMBG when photocopying excerpts from the voter list", says the opinion signed by the president of the Council of the Agency Željko Rutović.
In the answer to "VIJESTI" from the Department of Internal Affairs, which was unofficially approached for an opinion by the SEC, they said that they are not competent to give an opinion on the opinions of the AZLP.
"In the electoral process, which implies and includes a large number of institutions and bodies, each of which, within its competences, is responsible for the implementation of the electoral process, the competence of the MUP, in accordance with the Law on the Voter List, is to maintain the voter list", they state in the answer from department Filip Adžić.
Bonus video:
