On November 22, 2024, the Personal Data Protection Agency (AZOP) announced that at the 4^th session of the Croatian Parliament, held on November 15, 2024, the AZOP's annual report for the protection of personal data for the period from January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023, was accepted. 

What are the highlights from the report?

The report states, among other things, that: 

• 2023 was marked by the largest number of imposed administrative fines for violations of the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Law on the Implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation, as well as administrative fines with the highest amounts;
• in total 28 administrative fines, amounting to €8.27 million were imposed, with two fines imposed on debt collection agencies, in the amounts of €2.26 million and €5.47 million;
• the AZOP carried out 544 inspections and supervisory activities, which included supervision at the request of the respondent, the proposal of a third party, and ex officio, of which 72 were direct inspections and 472 were indirect inspections;
• there was an increase in the number of cases received by 18%, and the AZOP had a total of 3,448 cases, of which 2,601 were received in 2023, and 847 cases were carried over from the previous period;
• the AZOP recorded an increase in the number of requests received to determine the violation of rights, on which the AZOP and these requests were mostly related to the processing of personal data through video surveillance, the processing of personal data by financial institutions, and the publication of personal data in the media and on social networks; and
• a higher number of telephone inquiries was recorded than the number of written inquiries received. 

You can read the press release here and the report here, both only available in Croatian.