TEISĖS Į ASMENS DUOMENŲ APSAUGĄ IR SAVIRAIŠKOS BEI INFORMACIJOS LAISVĖS SUDERINAMUMO PROBLEMATIKA

• Published in: Jurisprudencija 2020, Vol.27 (2), p.269-297
• Main Author: Žaltauskaitė-Žalimienė, Skirgailė
• Format: Article
• Language: eng ; lit
• Subjects: Access to information; Charters; Civil Law; EU-Legislation; Human rights; Jurisprudence; Personal information; Right of privacy
• ISSN: 1392-6195; 2029-2058
• DOI: 10.13165/JUR-20-27-2-02

This article considers issues related to the potential conflict between the right to personal data protection and the right to freedom of information.The right to the protection of personal data is relatively new and can be described as one of the features of modern law, as the new secondary legislation intended to regulate this field in detail was adopted by the EU in 2016 only.It is an axiom that every person deserves to have access to appropriate remedies that uphold their right to personal data protection, as provided by Article 8 of the Charter. According to the Charter, this right is fundamental and necessary in order to preclude the illegal or disproportionate use of personal and private information.There is no equivalent of Article 8 in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The right to privacy and personal data protection share common ground, such that the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) considers both the right to privacy and personal data protection concurrently. Nevertheless, judgments such as Digital Rights Ireland, Seitlinger and others, or Tele2 Sverige would suggest otherwise; the CJEU clearly regards both of these rights as being separate.Access to information is therefore closely related to the freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas, as guaranteed by Article 10 of the ECHR.In the context of European Union law, access to information is held to be a common constitutional tradition. Moreover, Article 11 of the Charter sets out the right of freedom of expression and information, including the freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers.Yet, given that the right to privacy and the freedom of information are both essential rights in this Digital Age, being able to access public documents cannot be an absolute right.Where application is made to access personal information held by government bodies, there is a potential conflict between these rights.It is here than national courts have a special role to play, i.e. ensuring the right to personal data protection and freedom of information, and in dealing with certain cases there may be a need to assess that the fundamental rights have not been breached.How, then, do international and national courts balance the right to personal data protection and the freedom of information? Both are internationally recognized human rights with a long history a