The Labour Party has pledged to take measures to ensure compliance to the EU’s new digital data privacy rules, but the Nationalist Party has so far refused to comment. 

“Partit Laburista is taking all the necessary measures to be compliant with the new GDPR regulation,” a PL spokesperson told Lovin Malta. 

The PL said the only data it has on individuals is that which enrolled party members provide freely themselves and that which can be found on the publicly accessible electoral register. 

“The [electoral register] data is only used for the scope of the electoral law and not to send promotional material or other correspondence to citizens,” he said.

The Nationalist Party has so far not responded to the same questions sent to the Labour Party, despite reminders for it to do so and despite it clearly being in possession of citizens’ data – as evidenced below. 

The Nationalist Party clearly has my data. Question is how. 

As for the small parties, Partit Demokratiku has said it is already following the instructions related to GDPR while Alternattiva Demokratiu has not commented.

Officially launched last week, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) intends to give EU citizens greater control over how third parties use their digital information. 

The law states that people must explicitly grant permission for their personal data to be used, that they have a right to know who is processing their data and whether it has been hacked, and that they have a right to have this data deleted. Companies found in breach of GDPR regulations will face hefty fines, reaching up to €20 million or 4% of their annual turnover.

Since the regulation is purely for digital data, it will not impact the ability of third parties to post promotional data in the mail. However, it will require them to gain explicit consent before sending promotional emails and SMSs – which is why your phone and inbox has probably been clogged with with ‘private policy’ messages in recent days. 

The regulation was transposed into Maltese law with hardly any parliamentary debate at all, with Justice Minister Owen Bonnici later tweeting that it has heralded in “a new era for stronger data protection for citizens”.

What do you make of the new GDPR regulations? 

READ NEXT: The 9 Stages Of GDPR As Seen From The Eyes Of A Clueless Human

Tim Diacono

Tim is interested in the rapid evolution of human society and is passionate about justice, human rights and cutting-edge political debates. You can follow him on Instagram or Twitter/X at @timdiacono or reach out to him at [email protected]