North Macedonia’s New COVID-19 Restrictions Raise Personal Data Fears

Faced with yet another surge in infections, particularly in the capital Skopje and in the town of Tetovo, the government has decided that, starting next Monday, all hospitality venues with a capacity over 30 guests must introduce private security personnel to check guests for vaccination certificates on entry.

But businesses have responded that this will force them to breach people's personal data protection rights.

"It is a fact that according to the law, only authorised personnel like the police or medical doctors can identify or check visitors' personal data or medical data. There is no law or any other basis that would allow an employee of a hospitality venue or [its] security personnel to identify guests by name and check whether they have been vaccinated," said the head of North Macedonia's Independent Hospitality Chamber, Zdravko Josifovski, who is also the owner of a hospitality venue.

Josifovski said that the hospitality industry is not prepared to employ more private security personnel at such short notice, and that many of his colleagues are worried that if the measures are implemented, customers could later sue them for breaching their medical privacy.

North Macedonia's Business Confederation said on Monday that it will respect the government measures. But it also expressed concern that the measures will "breach human rights and cause a division between vaccinated and unvaccinated citizens".

The government said that customers will be checked for whether they have been fully vaccinated, or whether they received one shot of a vaccine, before being allowed to sit in a hospitality venue's open areas, while the indoor areas will remain shut.

It also announced that even hospitality venues with outdoor capacities of...