The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection Milan Marinović, together with his colleagues from the Commissioner’s Office, during his study tour to Germany, the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, had the opportunity to learn about Germany’s experience in personal data protection, data processing problems and the use of video surveillance in public spaces. Study tour was organized as part of the project „Support for Strengthening Rule of Law in Serbia“, jointly financed by the EU and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) – EU FOR FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION AND FOR FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS – and implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).
During the study tour, very useful and substantive conversations were held with numerous institutions and individuals that deal with the protection and processing of personal data: the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI), representatives of the Federal police at Düsseldorf Airport and Köln Central Railway Station, the Association of Data Protection Officers Germany (BVD) and the German Association for Data Protection and Data Security (GDD), State Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information of North Rhine-Westphalia, Ms. Bettina Gayk, representatives of the Ministry of the Interior of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Köln Police Department, with members of the State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia and members of the Committee on Internal Affairs and Community, headed by Ms. Angela Ervin – the President of the Board. Special focus was on the current moment and the state of personal data protection in Germany and Serbia, with reference to the processing of biometric data and the processing of data through video surveillance of public spaces.
