Belarus passes first personal data protection law

Last month, on April 2nd, the Belarusian House of Representatives adopted in the second reading the draft law “On the Protection of Personal Data”. The law was passed on May 7th. It is the first Belarusian legal act specifically intended to lay down issues of data protection.

The law is aimed at the legal regulation of social relations arising from the processing of personal data of individuals as well as ensuring the protection of such data and the rights and freedoms of individuals in the processing of their personal data. It implies that

Processing of personal data must be commensurate with the stated purposes of its processing and ensure at all stages a fair balance between the interests of all persons concerned.

The provisions concern in detail, inter alia:

• definition of the categories of personal data as well as principles and conditions of their processing, with and without the use of automated means
• determination of the process for cross-border transfer of personal data; in particular, it is prohibited if a foreign country does not provide an adequate level of protection of personal data subjects rights
• determination of the data subject rights and obligations of public authorities, legal entities and natural persons within the processing of personal data, with regard to particularly the appointment of a Data Protection Officer and data breach notifications
• establishment of additional safeguards against arbitrary and uncontrolled collection, storage, use, dissemination, provision and other processing of personal data
• procedure for the establishment of an authority empowered with the protection of data subject rights and its competence; the foundation of the mentioned authority shall be assigned to the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus together with the Operations and Analysis Center under the President of the Republic of Belarus within three months after the official publication of the corresponding law
• liability for violation of the provisions.

The purpose of adopting this law is to ensure an adequate level of protection of personal data and to support the development of business, trade and economic relations of the Republic of Belarus with other countries.

The main provisions of the law shall enter into force six months after its official publication.