Companies that make public lists of indebted persons risk fines of thousands of lei

The municipal companies and housing stock managers that post lists of persons with debts for public utilities at the entrance to apartment buildings or publish them on the opposite side of the bills face penalties. Nicolae Lungu, of the National Center for the Protection of Personal Data, has told Info-Prim Neo that the right to family and private life is infringed this way. Under the Law on the Protection of Personal Data, the operators that have access to such data are obliged to ensure their confidentiality. Otherwise, they face fines of up to 10,000 lei in accordance with the Code of Administrative Offenses. Nicolae Lungu said the persons with debts whose names were made public can decide by themselves whether to sue the operators that published personal information. In a similar case, the court ruled in favor of persons who complained that an institution published their names on the Internet, in ‘black lists’. Contacted by Info-Prim Neo, vice director of the Chisinau billing company “Infocom” Anatolie Morosan admitted that the bills sometimes contain the list of indebted persons on the opposite site, but implied that this information is published at the request of the suppliers. Artiom Iarmolici, specialist dealing with the promotion of the image of the heat supplier SA Termocom, has told Info-Prim Neo that the company does not encourage such practices, while the responsibility is borne by the housing stock managers.