YouControl announced this on its Facebook page.
GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is the General Data Protection Regulation, a piece of legislation from the European Union that came into effect on May 25, 2018. The primary aim of GDPR is to safeguard the personal data of EU citizens by regulating how companies and organizations collect, process, store, and use that data.
The bill has raised concerns among the public sector, businesses, and the media. Despite numerous comments, it is being presented for its first reading without revisions.
Main risks:
- extremely high fines: for individuals up to 20 million UAH, for legal entities up to 150 million UAH, or up to 8% of the total annual turnover (currently, the maximum fine is 34 thousand UAH);
- destruction of data, even if it holds public significance: for instance, the fugitive president Yanukovych may demand not to be labeled as a criminal, citing the statute of limitations. A court could side with him based on the "right to be forgotten," as defined in Article 21 of the new law;
- arbitrary interpretation: the vague definition of "personal data" in the bill allows regulatory bodies to interpret this term at their discretion, paving the way for corrupt practices;
- restriction on the use of open data: the provisions included threaten transparency, accountability of the state, and the fight against corruption. Businesses, investigative journalists, and banks will lose the ability to conduct thorough checks.