New toolkit helps Ukrainian business community assess how well they protect their client and staff personal data, form their personal data protection policies, and prevent legal violations in the sphere

Kyiv, 23 February 2021 – The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, supported by the United Nations Development Programme in Ukraine (UNDP), the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, and the CSO Privacy Hub, has launched a toolkit to help the country’s businesses protect personal data. 

The toolkit will help the business community assess how well they protect personal data and improve their personal data protection policies. The initiative aims to decrease the number of violations in the area of personal data.

Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation Liudmyla Rabchynska said that over 70 percent of companies would benefit from personal data protection by getting additional income, enhancing efficiency, and getting a better investment appeal. “This is why proper privacy and data protection guarantees give a competitive advantage: it helps to enhance people’s trust in businesses that process client data,” Rabnynska said.

During the presentation of the toolkit, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative to Ukraine Manal Fouani stressed that in today’s ever-more digitised world, personal data protection has to be a high priority for both government and business.

“Human rights are human rights, no matter if they’re in physical space or cyberspace,” Fouani said.

“With Ukraine shifting towards comprehensive digitalization of public services and connecting them to the business world, it is vital that human rights commitments remain central to the development agenda in Ukraine, including in the digital development sphere. This new toolkit will help Ukraine meet its commitment to both the citizens and the businesses. We at UNDP are very pleased to partner with the Ministry of Digital Transformation on this initiative, to showcase how Ukraine is leading the way in the centrality of human rights in its path to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and implement the Agenda 2030.”

The toolkit consists of a specially designed test that assesses whether companies follow the requirements of the law on personal data protection when working with clients. It will help the business community:

·       learn more about Ukrainian laws and international standards in the area of personal data protection; 

·       assess the level of readiness of a company to observe standards in personal data protection; 

·       improve management systems, in line with Ukrainian law and EU standards.

The toolkit is already available on the Dia.Business platform,

Organizations that properly protect the personal data of their clients and staff are less susceptible to data breaches, and as a result are less exposed to reputational and financial risks.

The toolkit is the latest product of the strategic partnership between the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and UNDP to enhance digital solutions for democracy in Ukraine. It was developed by the Ministry of Digital Transformation with the support of the Human Rights for Ukraine (HR4U) project, implemented by UNDP in Ukraine with financial support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.

Background information:

UNDP Ukraine has built a strong partnership with the Ministry of Digital Transformation since the ministry was formed in August 2019, supporting such initiatives as #HackCorona, which engaged IT experts, civic activists, start-ups, journalists in developing IT-projects to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. It also contributed to the development of a Diia.Business platform for small- and medium-sized enterprises, designing mobile solutions for administrative services provision in eastern Ukraine.

During 2020, the Ministry of Digital Transformation with the UNDP support launched two series of educational  videos on the platform Dia.Osvita aimed at promoting human rights: a course on personal data protection, and a course on access to public information for civil servants.

Media enquires:

Yuliia Samus, UNDP in Ukraine Communications Team Leader, yuliia.samus@undp.org