Albanian 
Prishtinë, February 26, 2018 – Being the European Union’s new regulation in personal data protection of the EU citizens for companies that store or process these data, effective from May 25, 2018, the American Chamber of Commerce in Kosovo and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) organized a workshop on General Data Protection Regulation with the purpose of better informing businesses operating in Kosovo with the implications that come from this regulation.
Arian Zeka, AmCham Executive Director, said that this regulation is very important, considering that this is a new regulatory framework in European Union level, a few years after since the request on offering better personal data protection for the costumers. Zeka said that AmCham and PwC aim in better-informing the companies about the new dispositions, considering the regulation’s effects especially the new penalties which are around 4% of the annual circulation, or 20 million euros.
Valon Kryeziu, Head of Legal Department at the National Agency for Personal Data Protection, said that this regulation has brought many novelties in personal data processing, mentioning the right for data erasure, data transfer, strengthening accountability, and increasing transparency. Further on, Kryeziu added that Kosovo is working in harmonizing its national legislation with the regulations in the European Union level, inviting AmCham and other organizations to contribute in the drafting process of the legislation.
Dzenet Garibovic, GDPR Expert from PwC Croatia, stressed the importance of data protection as primary for companies operating in Kosovo, mentioning the steps to be undertaken in implementing this regulation in the future. She explained that this applies for companies that process or store personal data of EU citizens and also in offering services, even if these companies are not established in EU member countries. She added that the current legislations in different countries should be in concordance with GDPR so that its implementation will be fast and in the right way.
Further on, the attendants got clarifications and recommendations from PwC experts in applying this regulation, and also other GDPR details and requests.