What is the right to personal data protection and why is it important?

The right to personal data protection is one of the fundamental human rights. The purpose of personal data protection is protection of privacy and other human rights and fundamental freedoms when collecting, processing and using personal data

The right to personal data protection is the right to protection of citizens’ (individuals’) legitimate interests which pertains to the prevention and penalisation of misuse of personal data, which is guaranteed by international and national regulations.

Your personal data has to be processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner.

The Constitution of the Republic of Croatia guarantees all citizens respect for and legal protection of their personal and family life, dignity, reputation and honour, as well as safety and confidentiality of their personal data, regardless of their citizenship and place of residence, race, skin colour, sex, language, religion, political or other convictions, national or social origin, property, birth, education, social status or other characteristics.

All human progress is based on acquiring, storing and sharing knowledge, and information and communication technology makes this process faster and cheaper. Digital transformation represents the foundation for the future survival of our society. However, we should not forget that the most valuable property of each citizen is their personal data. Misuse of personal data severely undermines those aspects of trust, safety and privacy which are indispensable segments of each person’s personality.

To raise citizens’ awareness of the right to personal data protection, the Council of Europe, supported by the European Commission, made 28 January “DATA PROTECTION DAY”, and the Croatian Personal Data Protection Agency marks that occasion to raise the public’s awareness about the importance of personal data protection and privacy.