On 9 July Homo Digitalis filed a request (no. 5812/9.7.2024) before the Greek Data Protection Authority, in order for the latter to exercise its investigative powers against the Ministry of Interior.

In particular, following the Authority’s Decision 16/2024 in April 2024, by which it had imposed a record fine of 400,000 euros on the Ministry of Interior for significant breaches of data protection legislation, the Ministry is again in the spotlight, this time for the artificial intelligence tool it is developing for strategic staffing planning in the public sector.

The tool concerns the reallocation of existing staff and the estimation of the needs for new staff, while it will be piloted in 9 public sector institutions, namely the Development Programmes Organisation and Management Unit, the Independent Public Expenditure Authority, the Public Employment Service, the Athens General Hospital “G. Gennimatas Hospital, the Municipality of Thessaloniki, the Region of Attica, the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, the Ministry of Environment and Energy and the Ministry of Culture and Sports.

The project is expected to be completed in December 2025, at a cost of €11,708,543.

Because the tool needs to include functionalities for the collection, management and analysis of personal data, Homo Digitalis had filed a letter on 15 April 2024 before the then Minister of Interior Ms.Kerameos and the Data Protection Officer of the Ministry, in which it raised key questions regarding both the compliance required with the legislation on the protection of personal data and the legislation on the use of artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies in the public sector (Law 4961/2022). However, the Ministry did not provide any response, even after a written reminder of our request on 30 May, forcing us to address the DPA to investigate thoroughly  the development, implementation and piloting of this tool and the implications for the rights of public sector employees.

You can see our request here (EL).