Georgian Parliament Should Suspend the Selection Process of the Head of the Personal Data Protection Service
10 February, 2022
“Rights Georgia” publishes its Dissenting Opinion on Proposed Nominees
On February 9 it became known that the Prime Minister of Georgia submitted to the Parliament two candidates for the post of the Head of the Service of Personal Data Protection.
Chairperson of the “Rights Georgia’s” Board, Karlo Nikoleishvili was appointed by the Ombudsman of Georgia as a member of the Government Commission for the selection of candidates for the position of the Head of the Personal Data Protection Service.
Despite the dissenting position of the two members of the Commission, the latter by the majority made a decision of nominating the three candidates to the Prime Minister. Based on the conducted interviews "Rights Georgia" firmly believes that the candidates nominated by the Competition Commission do not meet the basic requirements of knowledge and independence necessary for the position of the Head of the Personal Data Protection Service. The Organization prepared its dissenting opinion regarding the selected nominees and appealed to the Prime Minister to re-announce the competition.
Prime Minister Garibashvili had not taken into account “Rights Georgia’s” dissenting opinion and submitted to the Parliament two candidates – Ms. Lela Janashvili and Ms. Tamar Alpaidze - for the post of the Head of the Personal Data Protection Service.
"Rights Georgia" aimed to involve in the activities of the Selecting Commission to ensure transparency of the process and inform the public and interested parties on the developments around the selection process. Therefore, "Rights Georgia" considers it appropriate to publish its dissenting opinion about the candidates for the position of the Head of the Personal Data Protection Service, prepared by the member of the Selecting Commission, Karlo Nikoleishvili.
The dissenting opinion offers an assessment of the professional and moral qualities of the candidates, providing solid evidence that the qualifications and personal qualities of the nominees do not meet the requirements for the position of the Head of the Personal Data Protection Service.
Now that there is a reasonable assumption that the candidates presented to the Parliament do not meet the criteria, and given that the Prime Minister has ignored the “Rights Georgia’s” appeal for re-announcement of the competition, the role of the Georgian Parliament becomes even more important in this process. In particular, “Rights Georgia” considers it vital that the Parliament of Georgia creates a legal ground for announcing a new competition by rejecting the nominees submitted by the Prime Minister.
No less important is the fact that the constitutionality of the legislative amendments adopted in December 2021, which led to the abolition of the State Inspector’s Service (the predecessor of the newly established Personal Data Protection Service), has been challenged before the Constitutional Court of Georgia by both the Public Defender of Georgia and the State Inspector herself.
Considering the importance of the matter, “Rights Georgia” is convinced that, on the one hand, the Constitutional Court of Georgia should accelerate the examination of the above-mentioned cases, and, on the other hand, the Parliament of Georgia should abstain from appointing heads of new Services until the Constitutional Court delivers its decision.
Based on these arguments, “Rights Georgia” calls on:
• The Parliament of Georgia to create a legal ground for announcing a new competition for the position of the Head of the Personal Data Protection Service by rejecting the nominees submitted by the Prime Minister;
• The Constitutional Court of Georgia to ensure timely examination of constitutional complaints lodged by the Public Defender of Georgia and the State Inspector;
• The Prime Minister of Georgia to re-announce the competition for the position of the Head of the Personal Data Protection Service upon the decision of the Constitutional Court of Georgia.
