With a view to the Draft Law on the National DNA Registry, which was established by the Government and submitted to the National Assembly for adoption, the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection sent letters to the chairmen of the parliamentary committees of Defense and Internal Affairs, the Human and Minority Rights and the Gender Equality Committee.

Commissioner pointed out that he gave his opinion to the proponents during the Law drafting, whereby he presented the flaws and inconsistencies, as well as the mismatch between the text of the Law and the basic European and international standards in the field of genetic data processing, including the lack of harmonization with the Council of Europe Recommendation, No (92)1 on genetic privacy, and the non-compliance with standards established in the practice of the European Court of Human Rights.

Commissioner's remarks and suggestions have not been observed.

In letters to the committee chairmen, the Commissioner warned that analysis of DNA, or any biological material, represents the most invasive encroachment on privacy and which could reveal a huge amount of personality data, including those from the most vulnerable categories. Because of that, and the need to reduce the risk of abuse as much as possible, this issue must be approached with genuine particular attention. First and foremost, this implies, as a minimum, a clear, precise definition of the group of persons in relation to who such data processing is justified, as well as a clear definition of the deadlines for storing the collected data.

However, the Bill does not precisely define the conditions under which the entry, use and deletion of the data contained in the Registry is to be carried out, and it does not distinguish the data processed for persons suspected for committing a criminal offense, undergoing e criminal investigation proceeding, on the one hand, from persons affected by the criminal offense (the victims), on the other hand. Likewise, the deadlines for data storing in the National DNA Register have not been precisely determined, and there is no difference between the persons suspected, accused, legally convicted or those validly acquitted.

Commissioner also warned that the RS Constitution in Article 42, stipulates that the collection, keeping, processing and use of personal data shall be regulated by the law. And this means that a more detailed management of the National DNA Register can solely be done through the law, and not through the by-laws, or the Government, as foreseen by the draft law.

Since it is the law whose solutions can have implicit consequences on the rights and freedoms of a large number of citizens, where the Commissioner does not have an opportunity to file an amendment, or any other instrument that could influence further legislative procedure, the Commissioner, as a protector of the personal data security, urged the MPs to consider carefully and impartially the expert remarks and suggestions given on the law text, regulating the National DNA Register.