The private service provider for collecting visa applications on behalf of European embassies and consulates in Morocco (France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Belgium, etc.), TLS Contact has been reprimanded by The National Commission for the Control of Personal Data Protection (CNDP).
Indeed, the CNDP accuses him of illegally transferring images from surveillance cameras of visa applicants to government institutions abroad. The CNDP announced yesterday, Monday that it had convened the company TLS Contact, a service provider for collecting visa applications on behalf of European diplomatic representations accredited in Morocco and a hearing took place, in this regard, on Friday January 6, 2022.
The CNDP having actually heard the representatives of the company TLS Contact Morocco. A press release from the Institution headed by Omar Seghrouchni mentions, in this regard, a regular sending (every five minutes) of images extracted from video surveillance cameras to two government institutions based abroad, which transmission of images has been declared and confirmed by a controller.
The press release indicating that after receiving or receiving information from the press or institutions, checks are carried out by sworn agents of the CNDP, in order to contribute to strengthening the climate of digital trust, necessary for the deployment of digital on the national territory. Citizens must be informed, as and when, of the various actions in progress to supervise the respect of the law 09-08, from where the summoning if one can say representatives of the company TLS Contact Maroc for s explain as to the observed offense which exposes its author to the sanctions provided for by law n° 09-08.
The CNDP, it is further said, is continuing to investigate this case while having notified the data controller of the obligation to bring all its processing of personal data into conformity within a period not exceeding February 28, 2023. The CNDP will set up a National Register for the follow-up of complaints and controls. It will be made public on March 31, 2023. In the meantime, a dedicated page on the CNDP website will allow, from Thursday January 12, 2023, the persons concerned to follow the significant control events.
On another note, TLS Contact Morocco is a private service provider that is little appreciated by Moroccan citizens applying for visas. Indeed, it is necessary for many of them before obtaining an appointment, often to go through the “dark side” of the thing. Indeed, it is practically very difficult or even sometimes impossible to obtain it on the TLS Contact site. Also, it is necessary to rely on the illegality of the “intermediaries” that some would even suspect, of acquaintances with certain agents of the service provider so much the free slots are rare, even non-existent.
Moreover, last September the Consulate General of Italy in Casablanca announced the suspension of appointments for family reunification visas through the subcontractor company TLS Contact, thus limiting the types of appointments you while waiting for the design of another system of requests which must come into effect this January.