KOVAČEVIĆ: THEY CANNOT FIX VOTER LIST, BUT WANT TO TAKE FINGERPRINTS

ISTOČNO SARAJEVO, MAY 10 /SRNA/ - The former director of the BiH Agency for Personal Data Protection Petar Kovačević said that an institution such as the Central Election Commission /CEC/ of BiH cannot have the authority to regulate the processing of special categories of personal data, such as fingerprints.

"They cannot properly maintain the voter list, which in the 21st century can be ensured daily, yet they are moving toward collecting citizens' data, which is a far more sensitive and delicate issue in this era of technological advancement," Kovačević told SRNA, commenting on the CEC's announcement that one of the innovations in the October general elections will be voter identification through fingerprints on a device that stores biometric data. Kovačević pointed out that, in accordance with the Law on Personal Data Protection, the processing of personal data such as fingerprints must be regulated by a specific law in the context of public authority, as well as due to the requirement of public interest. "For this significant interest in the context of the electoral process to be recognized, it would have to be prescribed by the Election Law of BiH and would represent a necessary measure in a democratic society," Kovačević said. He emphasized that there is already a Law on Identity Cards that regulates the processing of personal data through a memory card containing such information, and he questioned why that system could not be used if it already exists. Kovačević also reminded that the Agency for Personal Data Protection had previously issued opinions regarding new technologies, noting that three key issues have been raised: video surveillance at polling stations, fingerprint identification, and electronic voting. "Electronic voting has not been controversial from the start, because it does not involve the processing of personal data in a way regulated and protected by law. However, a contentious issue was the necessity of processing biometric data, such as fingerprint collection, at polling stations," said Kovačević. He added that human rights "can only be interfered with through a law".