Update to the contribution to the progress report on the process of accession of the republic of macedonia to the european union

3.23JUDICIARY AND FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS

(See also Key priorities and Political criteria)
The Law on acting upon complaints and appeals (Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia no.82/2008) was adopted. The Law operationalises the provision of article 24 of the Constitution, according to which any citizen has the right to submit appeals to the state institutions and other public bodies and receive an answer. The Law determines the manner in which an appeal or a complaint can be submitted, the time period within which the institution is obliged to respond, the coordination of the institutions applying this law in relation to the complaints and appeals submitted, the assigning of a responsible person for acting upon complaints and appeals and the misdemeanour responsibility when not acting upon the appeal. The Law stipulates that the institution acting upon the complaints and appeals is responsible to answer to the submitter on the results of its action within 15 days, while for more complex issues within 30 days of receiving the complaint, i.e. the appeal.
The Law on Court Service (Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia, No.98/08) is envisaged in the Strategy for the reform of the judiciary system, in order to address non-effective case management assessed as one of the weak parts of the court system. In order to overcome these weaknesses, this law exempts the court administration from the civil service system in the Republic of Macedonia, determining closely the salaries in the court administration. In addition, it strengthens the role of the court police and determines the salary categories. Lastly, the law introduces a totally automated system of random assignment of cases. This law will be applied as of 1 January 2009.
The amendments to the Law on Notary were adopted by the Parliament (Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia, No.86/08). The amendments are adopted with the purpose of overcoming the problems encountered in the application of this Law related to the notary fees. The amendments determine more specifically the notary fees in accordance with the specific notary activity.
The amendments to the Law on salaries of judges were adopted (Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia, No.103/08), which closely determine the manner of calculation and payment of the supplements to the salaries of judges.
The amendments to the Law on the Bar were adopted (Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia, No.106/08). The amendments are directed towards overcoming the problems encountered in the application of this Law related to the organization of the bar exam, the organization of the Bar Chamber and the amount of the bar chamber deposit.
On the basis of the recommendations of the Peer Mission in the field of justice, freedom and security, the amendments to the Law on court budget were adopted (Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia, No.103/08), transferring the management of the budget to the Judicial Council of the Republic of Macedonia.
The amendments to the Law on litigation procedure were adopted ((Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia, No.111/08). The amendments are directed towards speeding up of the court procedure and improving the efficiency of the courts, introducing among other novelties, the electronic delivery. The amendments regulate the issuing of a payment warrant, as a specific procedure within the general litigation procedure
The application of the Law on enforcement shows the following results: For the period 01.01.2008 – 31.08.2008 a total of 20.808 requests for enforcement have been filed, out of which 9315 have been realised, reaching a 45% rate of realisation.⁵
The procedure for renovation of 6 Basic Courts with extended competences (Ohrid, Struga, Tetovo, Kumanovo, Shtip and Strumica) is ongoing. The tender procedure for equipping the basic court with extended competence in Prilep is ongoing.
The Judicial Council of Macedonia elected the new president of the Supreme Court, who took office in July 2008.
In July 2008 the Parliament ratified the Additional Protocol of the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data regarding supervisory authorities and trans-border data flow (Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia, No.103/08). The Parliament also in July enacted the amendments to the Law on Personal Data Protection (Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia, No.103/08), which were drafted with the assistance of EU experts. The amendments are aimed at:

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  full harmonization of the national legislation with the legislation of the European Union, more precisely with Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union;
  
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  full harmonization of the national legislation with the Additional Protocol to the CoE Convention 108/81;
  
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  extension of the definition of “special categories of personal data” by adding philosophical beliefs, genetic data and biometric data.
  
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  full application of the Law to public security and criminal proceedings, as well as limited application to national security and defence;
  
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  partial exclusion of the application of the Law, necessary for the purposes of professional journalism and artistic expression;
  
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  regulating video surveillance;
  
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  simplification of the notification procedure and complaints handling procedure;
  
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  harmonization of the Law on Personal Data Protection with the Law on Misdemeanours;
  
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  strengthening the independence of the Directorate for Personal Data Protection;
  

The ratification of the Additional Protocol and the amendments to the Law on personal data protection are a prerequisite for the conclusion of a Cooperation agreement between the Republic of Macedonia and EUROJUST.

Inspection supervision

Table 1. Performed inspections by sectors
Sectors	number
Energy	4
Telecommunications	1
Non-governmental sector	3
Political parties	1
Public utility company	4
Health sector	5
Insurance	4
Local government	3
Debt collecting companies	1
Direct marketing	1
Education	3
Banks	1
Agencies for securing property and persons	1
Total number of inspections	32

Table 2. Established violations by number of controllers

Established violations of the law	Number of controllers
Insufficient protection of personal data of users in the process of issuing bills	1
Controller does not provide guaranties for undertaking technical and organizational measures by the processor	2
Controller does not provide adequate technical measures for access to the collections of personal data	1
Unlawful coping of identity papers	1
Keeping data after the purpose of collection has been fulfilled	3
Transfer of personal data in another state without given assessment and approval from the Directorate	1
Controller does not provide sufficient organizational measures for secrecy and protection of personal data	1

The Directorate completed the inspection in the respective period for 5 controllers that was initiated before that period. The Directorate issued 7 decisions in this period and received notifications by 11 controllers that the violations established with the decisions given in the previous period are removed. Also in this period 24 new inspections were initiated and the procedure is pending.

Providing expert opinions

Area	Provided opinion	Number of reprimands
Pension and disability insurance	4	2
Banking	3	1
Finance	2	1
Insurance	6
Telecommunications	2	1
Health	4	1
Law firms	2
State bodies	9
Natural person	8
International	9
NGOs	3
Personal documents	2
Statistic	1
Tourism	1
Utility companies	4
Permission for transfer	1
Brokering companies	1
Funds	1
Trade	2
Media	1
Local self-government	1
Public enterprises	1
Debt collecting companies	1
Direct marketing	1
Web portals	2
Foreign data protection bodies	3
Consultations provided by phone	8
Total	90	8

The majority of the opinions were regarding bylaws created by personal data controllers, question by natural or legal persons, draft laws and international agreements as well as assessments if the conditions required for transfer of personal data to other countries are fulfilled.

Complaints handling and request by natural persons

Area	Number of requests	Resolved	In procedure
Finance	13	1	12
Telecommunications	3	2	1
State bodies	4	0	4
Private sector	3	1	2
Health	1	0	1
Political parties	1	0	1
Total	25	4	21

The issue which the Directorate focused on the most was the complaints handling and requests filed by the natural persons for the establishment of the violation of the right to personal data protection. The Directorate is legally bound to investigate whether there was misuse of personal data or not. The Directorate acted in a timely manner and currently all the complaints and requests of natural persons have been processed.

Public awareness rising

Media	Appearances
Printed media	10
TV	9
Radio	2
Total	21

Public awareness rising and informing the citizens about the right of personal data protection and privacy was and is a key imperative of the work of the Directorate. The Directorate organized press conferences, interviews and reports in, the press and the electronic media, as well as a number of meetings, workshops and roundtables for various target groups.

The Ministry of justice in cooperation with the Association for criminal law, OSCE, OPDAT and the Foundation Open Society Institute Macedonia held a workshop on the new pre-investigative procedure, special investigative measures and the protection of personal data.