On 2–3 September the Data State Inspectorate welcomed a delegation from the Romanian Ministry of Home Affairs to share Latvia’s experience in the field of data protection and provide practical examples. The study visit took place within the framework of the European Commission’s Technical Assistance and Information Exchange (TAIEX) and Technical Support Instrument (TSI) initiative “Public Administration Cooperation Exchange” (PACE). The aim of this initiative is to strengthen public administration capacity and ensure the practical application of EU legislation by facilitating the exchange of best practices.
During the visit, specialists from the Data State Inspectorate presented the role of the supervisory authority under the General Data Protection Regulation and the VIS/SIS Regulations, explained the structure of the authority and its approach to supervising these systems. They demonstrated the VIS auditing methodology and planning, gave examples of audits of consular posts and audit reporting, and discussed the legal aspects of SIS supervision, together with tools and methods for verifying compliance. The Romanian colleagues were also introduced to public awareness activities on the processing of personal data in VIS and SIS and to training programmes for users of N.SIS and N.VIS.
On the second day, the programme continued at the Ministry of the Interior, where, together with the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs and the Information Centre, participants reviewed the VIS and SIS infrastructure, data and system security measures, self-auditing and self-monitoring approaches, as well as practical aspects of preparing for Schengen evaluation.
This visit followed on from the exchange that began already in May, when representatives of the Data State Inspectorate and Romanian colleagues jointly took part in a study visit to the Belgian supervisory authority within the same initiative.