19 October 2021 – Parliament voted in first reading legislative changes excluding the obligation to notify as a personal data operator.

Such a notification is required for any company processing personal data in an automated or manual system. These data relate to information about the consumer, the employee, his/her salary, data about his/her residence, etc.

The spectrum of personal data is so broad that it is very difficult for Moldovan companies to meet all the requirements of the National Centre for Personal Data Protection (CNPDCP) for obtaining the status of personal data controller. Some entrepreneurs say that notification can take up to 7 months.

Another problem is also the fact that today the individual can only give written consent to the processing of his/her personal data with the application of holographic signature or electronically with the application of advanced qualified signature. This is a hindrance in the development of ICT solutions and remote interaction with the consumer. In the EU this problem has long been solved by diversifying the ways of expressing consent for processing personal data.

This issue was raised by the business community in the process of developing the Roadmap for boosting the digitisation of the national economy and the development of e-commerce. The document was drafted by the Ministry of Economy at the initiative of the Economic Council. Subsequently, national and international experts from the EBRD, GIZ Moldova, USAID (Structural Reforms Programme in Moldova) and IFC drafted the legislative amendments, approved today by the Parliament in the first reading, which are part of the first Legislative Package for the digitisation of the economy.

The Secretariat of the Economic Council to the Prime Minister is supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, funded by the UK Government’s Good Governance Fund.