Spain: New data protection law
01 September 1999
On 30 September the Spanish Congress approved a law on data protection, repealing the present law. The old law was drawn up in 1992 and an appeal against some of its articles is still being considered by a constitutional tribunal. Among the new measures is the creation of a publicity centre for citizens wishing to receive information; free access for every citizen to the information which is stored in the automated databanks and an obligation on companies to keep the databanks updated and to provide accurate details of those registered. It is curious that several of the unresolved articles in the old law which were appealed before the constitutional tribunal are included in the new law, (eg. the exclusion of guarantees expected from private databank services regarding archives of public interest, registration or those relating to security). Opposition groups criticised this tactic, portraying it as a means of avoiding forthcoming decisions which may rule such articles to be unconstitutional, by transferring them into a new law which has not yet been appealed before the tribunal.