President presented with report by Data Protection Authority

The head of the Hellenic Data Protection Authority (HDPA), Constantine Menoudakos presented his annual report to President Prokopis Pavlopoulos on Thursday, at the Presidential Mansion.

The President congratulated Menoudakos and his staff and noted the importance of the full compliance of Greek legislation with international and European regulations, which was completed in 2018. The Authority, founded by a 1997 law, can now provide a single platform for the protection of private data, the president said.

The Authority, he noted, is helping inform individual and entities on the obligations they have, and supplies much-needed information to the courts and jurists who handle such issues. 

HDPA's Menoudakos said that 2017 was a year of key significance at the Authority, because it is the year it completed 20 years of operation and the last year of compliance with the first EU legislation on protection of private data, introduced in 1995.

As of May 25, 2018 the EU, he said, is applying the overhauled and new across-the-board legislation known as "the EU General Data Protection Regulation" (GDPR).

 He also pointed out that the Authority completed the work while severely understaffed, and he called for additional personnel as well as higher financial support.