New data protection head takes post

  • 2008-09-11
  • in cooperation with BNS
TALLINN - The Estonian government has appointed Viljar Peep as the new head of the country's Data Protection Inspectorate.

The appointment is effective as of Oct. 1 and will run until Sept. 30, 2013, spokespeople for the government said. The term of office of the incumbent director general, Urmas Kukk, expires on Sept. 30.

Peep, formerly a departmental head at the Justice Ministry, holds a doctorate in history and has been working at the Justice Ministry since 1995. He participated in building the commercial register and played a major role in fully digitalizing the commercial register and the land register.

The Data Protection Inspectorate is a state agency whose main tasks are independent supervision of the processing of personal data and maintaining the country's databases, organizing data protection activities, and monitoring and improving legislation.