Important to protect personal information says President

It is especially important to cement the protection of personal information, President Nicos Anastasiades said on Friday receiving the 2021 annual report of the data protection commissioner’s office.

“The activity as recorded in the report testifies to the office’s daily engagement with citizens’ questions, complaints, opinions. Only the numbers – more than 1,000 questions answered within a few hours, around 500 complaints registered with the office, 63 decisions – testify to the office’s daily engagement with citizens’ concerns and testify that we are now part of the everyday life of citizens,” Commissioner Irene Loizidou-Nicolaidou said.

Nicolaidou also turned in the report for the information commissioner, a role she has taken on for the last two years.

“This tool also started and is becoming embedded in the citizens’ consciousness. We have 40 queries and 25 complaints which are being investigated,” she said.

Nicolaidou explained that citizens address the public authority, which holds the information, and if the information is not provided by the public authority or the authority does not respond or responds late, there is a right to complain before the information commissioner, which is then investigated.

President Anastasiades said that the number referred to by the commissioner is not large, but he believes that it is possible that people are unaware of their rights and that this will slowly be consolidated.

Nicolaidou noted that training continues for the public authorities, announcements are made for information to the citizens to consolidate this institution in the people’s consciousness.