Luena - Banking and telecommunications institutions lead the complaints from citizens regarding personal data breaches, the head of the Data Protection Agency's Litigation Department, Hermenegildo Inglês, said Tuesday in Luena, Moxico province.
Speaking to the press following a seminar on "The Challenges of Data Protection in Angola", without giving any figures, Inglês said the Data Protection Agency has received several complaints against public and private companies about leaks of citizens' data, especially those in the banking and telecommunications sectors.
In order to discourage these practices, he said that after the complaints have been examined, these institutions are penalized with heavy fines of up to 400,000 dollars.
Hermenegildo Inglês urged these institutions to adopt mechanisms to preserve citizens' personal data, and for the population to report violations of this fundamental right.
"We need to be vigilant in order to avoid this fundamental right," he said.
The Angola Personal Data Protection Agency (APD) was created in 2019, with the aim to supervise public and private companies that handle citizens' personal data.
According to the regulations, all public and private entities that process the personal data of Angolan citizens must, in accordance with the Personal Data Protection Act, register their databases with the APD. TC/YD/AMP
