Local governments and personal data protection

Deputy President of the Personal Data Protection Office, Konrad Komornicki and his associates met with representatives of the Association of Polish Cities, an association of 366 cities. They discussed the most important problems with personal data processing in local government units.

This was another meeting aimed at supporting, by the Personal Data Protection Office, local government units in fulfilling their obligations related to personal data protection. During the meeting, the necessity of constant strengthening of data protection awareness among people who perform data processing activities was discussed. The problem of excesive data collection by institutions funding various city projects , under the pretext of handling a funding application for a given project, was also raised.

In order to increase the level of security of citizens and thus increase citizens' trust in our country, it is necessary to ensure that public administration, in this case local government, has an adequate way of securing personal data. The Association of the Polish Cities informed that it is considering the establishment of a commission dealing exclusively with the protection of personal data (a similar solution is in place in the Mayors' Forum)

The Public Sector Code

At the meeting, the topic of codes of conduct dedicated to data processing in local government units was raised. The Personal Data Protection Office encourages the development of such documents and, when preparing them, advises and gives its opinion on them before finally approving them.

‘Due to the extremely complex and complicated tasks of local government units, it is not possible to create a single code of conduct for this sector. Rather, the development of codes for selected, narrow areas of local government activity is required. Only then will we be sure that the processing of personal data in the activities of a given entity is comprehensively regulated’. - emphasised Konrad Komornicki, Deputy President of the Personal Data Protection Office.

New technologies and data protection

Participants also discussed the technological challenges of cyber security and the use of artificial intelligence. Numerous benefits of new technology applications were pointed out, such as increased efficiency, cost reduction, improved service quality, sustainability or process automation. The need to ensure anonymity and privacy of data was identified as the main challenge, due to the development of technology.