TI BiH filed complaints about the abuse of patients personal data for the political promotion of the candidate Vlado Dzajic

A large number of citizens left their personal data during the free health checks organized by the Center for Prevention of Stroke, including phone numbers, and accepting to have them used for health purposes, but not for the purpose of election promotion

Banjaluka, 5th October 2018 – Transparency International in BiH (TI BiH) submitted to the Personal Data Protection Agency in Bosnia and Herzegovina (PDPA) a complaint about the abuse of personal data of people who are now being presented as „friends of Dr. Vlado Dzajic“, a candidate of the political party Stranka nezavisnih socijaldemokrata (SNSD) in the forthcoming elections. Namely, these people are inviting citizens, who left their personal data as patients during the health checks organized by the Center for Prevention of Stroke, to go to the polls and vote for the candidate Vlado Dzajic.

In this way they violated the Law on Personal Data Protection, as well as the Law on Health Care which prescribes that patient has the right to confidentiality of personal data he shared with the relevant doctor. Also, there are reasonable grounds to suspect that they thus committed a criminal offense of Unauthorized use of personal data defined by the Criminal Code of the Republic of Srpska.

A large number of citizens left their personal data during the free health checks organized by the Center for Prevention of Stroke, including phone numbers, and accepting to have them used for health purposes, but not for the purpose of election promotion. Due to the reasonable doubt that personal data of patients have been unauthorizedly used for the purpose they had not been collected primarily, TI BiH submitted a criminal complaint to the District Public Prosecutor’s Office in Banja Luka. TI BiH warns that this is another example during the election campaign that shows how certain candidates, or their supporters, are ready to violate laws and use the most unscrupulous methods, including the abuse of patients,only to achieve their political interests.

Press rls 05_10_18_e