YEREVAN, MARCH 30, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian parliament is debating a government-backed bill envisaging amendments to the law on personal information that would give the authorities tools for surveillance and tracking of direct contacts of confirmed coronavirus cases using cellphone location data.

Minister of Justice Rustam Badasyan told lawmakers that this surveillance method will only be used during a pandemic-related state of emergency and will be enforced exclusively as long as the state of emergency is imposed.

He said the interference into the personal data will be “limited”.

Badasyan said the new surveillance method will give the authorities tactical means to rapidly trace direct contacts of coronavirus patients.

He emphasized that the content of phone calls or messages will not be accessible to the authorities. As a precaution, the law also envisages criminal liability for hypothetical illegal use of the PI.

The law also envisages introducing electronic communication means and applications for monitoring information on a person’s health, self-quarantine and to implement certain supervision.

He said they have studied international experience in developing the law.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan