Morocco’s National Commission for the Control of Personal Data Protection, the CNDP, has reminded political parties of the rules they must follow when processing personal data throughout the electoral process ahead of the September 23 legislative elections. The Commission detailed obligations covering consent, direct prospecting, political opinions, the use of artificial intelligence and data transfers, saying it also decided to bring these requirements to the attention of citizens and voters more broadly.
The CNDP first recalled the need to comply with Law 09-08, notifying the Commission of personal data processing before carrying it out, per Article 12, while insisting on respecting the stated purpose and retention period of data under Article 3.
Exploiting political opinion data without explicit consent is prohibited under Article 21, paragraphs 1 and 2, and the Commission warned against any direct prospecting without prior consent, as required by Article 10.
On artificial intelligence, the Commission called for flagging any AI-generated content, referencing Article 447-2 of Morocco’s 2018 Penal Code as well as Articles 39, 51 and 53 of Organic Law No. 53-25 on the House of Representatives. The CNDP also recommended collecting personal data fairly and transparently under Article 3, and guaranteeing the rights of data subjects set out in Chapter II, Articles 5 through 9.
The Commission further recalled the need to govern subcontracting through contracts compliant with Law 09-08, per Articles 23 and 25, while any data transfer must respect the law’s provisions, notably Articles 15 and 18 as well as Chapter V, covering Articles 43 and 44. More broadly, the CNDP called on all parties concerned to respect applicable rules, cooperate and take responsibility for personal data protection.
As part of its outreach and support for this democratic milestone, the Commission has made available a dedicated hotline, 3020, to provide clarifications on these rules and follow up on any personal-data-protection question throughout the different phases of the electoral process.
