Data Protection in Croatia: An Indicator of Ethics Processes in Research Institutions

Abstract

The implementation of the European Union’s(EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the Republic of Croatia did not include derogations for scientific research purposes at the national level except for official statistical purposes. Research has shown that the Croatian Personal Data Protection Agency (AZOP) received very few inquiries related to personal data protection from academic and research institutions in Croatia, both before and after GDPR, but received many general inquiries and non-research-related reports. This chap uses Croatia as a case study to assess two explanations for this: that data protection is managed well in Croatian research, or that potential ethics issues in research data protection are not sufficiently recognized. This chap summarizes research findings exploring these issues, the inferences that can be drawn, and lessons learned that could contribute to research ethics processes in other European Member States.