Within the ЕU funded project “Effective justice to protect the fundamental freedoms and privacy of people in the online space” implemented by Center for Legal Research and Analysis and the Macedonian Young Lawyers Association, commenced the process for preparation of Guidelines for Judicial actors on Privacy and Data Protection. The Guidelines for Judicial Actors on Privacy and Data Protection in North Macedonia will be tailored to the specific needs of the relevant legal professionals, including judges and public prosecutors, providing practical approach in exercising their duties more effectively in accordance with the EU practice and standards for protection of privacy.
For this purpose, in cooperation with the Personal Data Protection Agency, in the period October 31 -November 2 , a TAEIX expert mission was conducted in order to support the preparation of the Guidelines for Judicial actors on Privacy and Data Protection. The engaged TAIEX expert was Professor Dr. Eva Souhrada-Kirchmayer, a Judge at the Federal Administrative Court in Austria who will work on the Guidelines together with the local expert Aleksandar Godzo.
In order to successfully prepare the of Guidelines for Judicial actors on Privacy and Data Protection, the TAEIX expert in cooperation with the CLRA project team conducted interviews with the Director of the Academy for Judges and Public Prosecutors, Natasha Gaber – Damjanovska; Natasa Godzoska, Public Prosecutor in the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office – Skopje; Biljana Kocevska, Judge in the Basic Criminal Court Skopje; Valentina Koneska, Judge in the Administrative Court Skopje; Vladimir Milosevski, Public Prosecutor in the Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office Skopje; Leonora Kadriji, General Secretary of the Data Protection Agency (DPA); Slobodanka Slavkovska, Head of the Department for Supervision of the Private Sector within the DPA; Bojan Stefanovski, Head of the Department for Digital Forensics and Cybercrime within the Ministry of Internal Affairs as well as the experts who worked within the projects, Svetlana Crvenkovska, Elena Mujoska-Trpevska and Irena Bojadzievska.
The interviews provided deeper insights into the state of personal data protection and the right to privacy in North Macedonia, the level of GDPR compliance, as well as cooperation with judicial institutions regarding protection of the privacy rights. This interviews will contribute in drafting the Guidelines that will provide judicial institutions with practical approach for protecting citizens’ rights to privacy in the digital space in accordance with the EU standards.
