Filenews 3 November 2022 - by Vassos Vassiliou
Thousands of drivers who had not even considered becoming blood donors have the opportunity to do so, on the occasion of a bill that is expected to be approved by Parliament.
The purpose of the draft law, which was submitted by EDEK MP Andreas Apostolou, is to amend the Driving Licence Law, so as to enable a person who applies for a driving licence to submit his consent in writing, if he so wishes, to be registered in the blood donor register. The rapporteur of the draft law stated that its ultimate goal is to promote voluntary blood donation and strengthen the blood bank in the Republic.
The bill removed a provision under which the prospective driver would also declare his desire not to become a volunteer blood donor. The removal was made after taking into account the position of the Commissioner for the Protection of Personal Data, who noted that the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and local legislation, in this regard, do not require the receipt of negative consent and therefore recommended the deletion from the provisions of the law proposal of petitions that allow affected persons to express their refusal, on a case-by-case basis, become voluntary blood donors.
The Commissioner also indicated that only the details of persons who give their explicit consent to register in it are recorded in the existing blood donor register.
Mr. Apostolou agreed with the aforementioned recommendation of the Commissioner for the Protection of Personal Data. The Parliamentary Committee on Transport, before which the issue was discussed, after taking into account the said recommendation of the Commissioner, unanimously decided that the bill should be amended, in order to delete its provisions that provide for the possibility of refusing a person to become a volunteer blood donor. Having said that, the Commission, also unanimously and after taking into account everything that has been put before it, recommends to the Parliament that the bill be passed into law.
