Nationalist MEP David Casa said today that the legal notice empowering the Minister of Education to request data on any student in Malta clashed with the EU's Data Protection Directive transposed in Chapter 440 of the Laws of Malta and the fundamental right to privacy enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights.

The MEP said Regulation 4 (1) of the legal notice allowed the minister to request any information he may wish, and that such request could be interpreted to be possible even for purposes outside the scope of conducting the research.

"At worst this is a devious ploy enabling unprecedented surveillance and at best it is very shabby legal drafting bordering incompetence", he said.

"The powers awarded to the Minister are hugely disproportionate to the ends this legislation seeks to achieve. Erosion of fundamental rights such as that to privacy will come about one legal notice at a time. This government has set a dangerous precedent which I condemn in the strongest of terms",Mr Casa said.

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