The National Authority for the Protection of Personal Data of Tunisia issued a statement regarding the Bolt application on Friday. Following a heated debate on social networks on the exorbitant costs of travel, the Authority has issued a statement regarding another issue: the privacy of user information.

“The Bolt application is in violation of the legislation regarding user data. They made no requests or statements to the Authority. In fact, if they process consumers’ personal information, they must first submit a processing request to the INPDP,” President of the National Authority for the Protection of Personal Data Chawki Gaddes describes the situation. 

Due to the foreign nature of the Bolt app, the data is stored abroad.

Nevertheless, according to Gaddes, Bolt Tunisia should have obtained licence to transfer foreign data. 

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“From a personal data standpoint, Bolt’s action is illegal. We have the authority to reject the application, but we will not do so. Several applications violate the regulations and are hence not rejected,” Gaddes said. 

Gaddes stated, in reference to the debate over the prices of journeys, that even if the issue is significant, it does not fall under the jurisdiction of the Authority. Users are therefore advised to reduce or perhaps eliminate the use of this application.

“Examination of the company’s contractual document with its customers reveals that the applicable regulation on the protection of personal data (point IV) is the General Regulation for the protection of European personal data, which is not legally valid given that the service is provided by a Tunisian company to people within the country’s borders. This involves processing their personal data in conformity with Law №63 of 2004 on the protection of personal data. The request for this service is made via an information application on the mobile phone, and it is carried out in order to process the users personal data. Therefore, the business and its workers or operators are expected to comply with Organic Law №63 of 2004,” the statement read.

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 “After reviewing the files submitted by the data controllers of the Authority, it became apparent that the company lacked the legally mandated authority and licence, and had not secured a licence to transfer the personal data of its artisans abroad. Therefore, the company’s operations are, in essence, contrary to paragraphs 7, 8, and 51 of the aforementioned fundamental legislation, making it subject to legal processes and the potential imposition of criminal penalties for the deprivation of liberty stipulated by the aforementioned law. The Council notifies data subjects that it may receive complaints involving violations of rules or threats to society’s safety,” the statement added.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert. 
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexperts.com/view_expert/charles-rapulu-udoh