The Ministry of Information Development says that Moldova is prepared to protect personal information. According to the Ministry’s Law Division, the new law on personal data protection that took effect at the end of July places strict restrictions on the collection of personal information, especially on its dissemination. Under the new law, personal data can be dealt with only with the respective entity’s consent. “In such a way, when employing personnel, the employee cannot ask them about their criminal records or religion,” specialists of the ministry specify. The cases when the data is collected with the aim of protecting the life and health are an exception. The law obliges the institutions to register the information systems that keep personal data with the control body – the National Centre for Protecting Personal Data, which is independent of the state bodies. “An integral system for regulating personal data appears with the approval of the new law: the previous legislation protected the databases, but the new law protects their content as well,” officials of the Ministry of Information Development say. The law on personal data protection entered into force on July 27, 2007.