NEWSLETTER - #2 - November 2025

The Office of the IDPC successfully organised a full-day workshop focused on the requirement to conduct a Fundamental Rights Impact Assessment (FRIA) under Article 27 of the AI Act. The workshop was held in close collaboration with Professor Alessandro Mantelero, an acclaimed Associate Professor of Private Law and Law & Technology at the Polytechnic University of Turin. During the event, Prof. Mantelero shared his extensive experience on the importance of carrying out a fundamental rights impact assessment – even in cases where it is not legally required – prior to deploying or implementing a high-risk AI system.

On 10 October 2025, the Government published Legal Notice 227 of 2025, entitled the Artificial Intelligence (Designation of the Information and Data Protection Commissioner for the purposes of Regulation (EU) 2024/1689) Regulations, 2025. The Legal Notice, issued under the Data Protection Act, Chapter 586 of the Laws of Malta, designates the IDPC as the Market Surveillance Authority (MSA) for the monitoring of certain high-risk AI systems, listed under Annex III of the EU AI Act.

The IDPC published its Annual Report for 2024 - a year that once again underscored the vital importance of protecting personal data in a rapidly evolving digital world.

The IDPC has launched its brand-new podcast series. Episode #1 of the IDPC Podcast features the IDPC Ian Deguara and provides an overview of the work of the office. The podcast focuses on the protection of personal data - a fundamental right enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union – and explores how the GDPR serves as a key tool in safeguarding this right.

More episodes will be published in the coming weeks and months.

The IDPC Ian Deguara and Senior Legal Counsel Cynthia Duncan attended the 47th Global Privacy Assembly (GPA), held in Seoul, South Korea. The theme of the 2025 gathering, which was held in September, was “Artificial Intelligence in Our Daily Lives: Data and Privacy Issues”. The event was hosted by the Personal Information Protection Commission of Korea.

In the margins of this year's Global Privacy Assembly, the IDPC and the Information Commissioner of the Isle of Man have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen their existing relations and to promote exchanges to assist each other in the delivery of their regulatory functions.

The IDPC Ian Deguara as well as legal counsel Sasha Muscat participated in the British, Irish and Islands Data Protection Authorities (BIIDPA) annual meeting, which was hosted by the Bailiwick of Guernsey’s Office of the Data Protection Authority (ODPA). BIIDPA brings together data protection authorities whose separate regulatory regimes have close affinities. It aims to promote practical supervisory consistency, advancing and protecting data rights of people and enabling responsible innovation, both within and across their jurisdictions.

Dr Marco Fagnano, Legal Counsel at the IDPC, participated in a high-level panel discussion titled "Decoding AI and Data Regulations for Businesses", held at the Malta Digital Innovation Authority (MDIA) on 5 September 2025. The panel brought together experts from regulatory bodies, and representatives of the Malta Chamber of SMEs, the Chamber of Commerce and Servizzi Ewropej f'Malta, to explore the evolving regulatory landscape surrounding artificial intelligence, data privacy, and compliance challenges for businesses in Malta.

The Office of the IDPC of Malta has been confirmed as one of the participants amongst various EU regulators for the voluntary European Blockchain Sandbox (EBS), now for a third time, with this EBS third cohort of dialogues.

About this newsletter

This newsletter is issued by the Office of the Information and Data Protection Commissioner (IDPC) and is intended to provide recipients with information on the regulatory activities of the Office and with other relevant data protection material. Should you wish, at any point, to stop receiving the newsletter, you are being guided to click here to unsubscribe.

The Office is committed to ensure that any personal data is processed in full conformity with the Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR). Please read our data protection notice here.

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