The need to adapt the Albanian national legislation to the new EU regulatory framework in the field of personal data protection is an important step in Albania's path towards European integration.

This is the objective of the "Institution-building for alignment with the Union acquis on the protection of personal data" Twinning Project between Albania, Austria and Italy, financed by the European Union in the framework of the EU Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA).

The Project aims at aligning the legal framework on personal data protection currently in force in Albania with that prescribed by the EU acquis, and more specifically by the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR) and EU Police Directive 2016/680.

The specific aim of the Twinning Project is to support the Information and Data Protection Commissioner of Albania in regulatory framework updating and specifically the Law No. 9887/2008 on the protection of personal data, and alignment with the European Union acquis.

The Twinning project will allow Albanian citizens to benefit from the legislation modernization in this field, providing better control over personal data processing. The approximation of the national regulatory framework to that of the EU (GDPR and Police Directive) will strengthen the Commissioner's Office institutional capacity on personal data protection supervision and monitoring in both the public and private sector.

The expected results of the Project are:

• alignment of the national legislation with the GDPR and the Police Directives
• capacity building for enforcement of the new Data Protection legal framework
• awareness-raising with controllers and processors in order to ensure that they comply with the new Data Protection Law.

This Twinning project is being implemented by the Italian Personal Data Protection Authority “Garante per la Protezione dei Dati Personali”, supported by CSI Piemonte and Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights, Austria, forming a consortium of public sector organizations with consolidated experience in this field.

CSI Piemonte team, consisting of technical experts and lawyers specialized in legal affairs and privacy, will support actors that are responsible for data protection in Albania. The Resident Twinning Advisor, permanently working at the headquarters of the Albanian Commissioner for Information and Data Protection, for the coordination of project activities is also a CSI expert.

Partners: Personal Data Protection Authority of Italy “Garante per la Protezione dei Dati Personali”, CSI Piemonte (Italy), Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights (Austria)