The protection and storage of personal data are clearly related to the right to respect for privacy, as guaranteed by art. 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The latter provision protects a whole range of rights, namely the right to respect for private and family life, home and correspondence. The principle is that art. 8 protects personal information in respect of which an individual can legitimately hope that it will not be published or used without his or her consent. The study aims to break into the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, the main objective being to identify decisions that have a fundamental impact on the doctrine and practice of personal data collection. We are aware that multiple regulations in the field of personal data collection can be deduced from the practice of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). However, given the direct impact of ECtHR decisions on the Republic of Moldova, we found it appropriate to summarize only this aspect. However, in subsequent studies we will address the issue of personal data protection by the Court of Justice of the European Union. The basic idea, derived from that study, is that the Moldovan authorities should adjust their legislation and practices to the standards set out by the ECtHR and thus avoid possible convictions by the European Court.