On 13 August 2019, the Ministry of Justice placed under public consultation the draft law "Personal Data Protection Authority, alignment of domestic legislation on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 and transposition into national law of Directive (EU) 2016/680 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016".
Due to the importance of the issue and to the high level of participation in the consultation, the consultation deadline was extended by one day and will expire on 21 August 2019. The short consultation deadline indicates the government's intention to speed up the adoption of the draft law, given that Greece, along with Slovenia, are the last countries in the EU without up-to-date legislation on Personal Data Protection.
The draft law has retained some provisions of the previous draft law that was released for consultation in February 2018 but also includes new provisions and differentiations. Indicatively, the definitions have been restricted, the responsibilities of the Data Protection Authority are analyzed in more detail, while provisions for the consent of the minor and the processing of genetic data are included.
The provision for criminal liability of the Data Protection Officer in the event of breach of his confidentiality obligation, which was also foreseen in the previous draft law, is critical.
Already from the first readings, we find that several provisions of the draft law need clarification and interpretation.
We are monitoring the finalization of the draft law and its filing, and will keep you informed.