PERSONALIDAD Y PROTECCIÓN DE DATOS: EL SUPUESTO DE LAS PERSONAS FALLECIDAS.

Abstract

The object of this article is to analyse the application of data protection regulations to deceased persons. This is a matter that, despite the silence of the Organic Act on Data Protection, both the Spanish Data Protection Agency and a large sector of doctrine have settled without too many problems, leaning on the Civil Code and Constitutional Court case law. Because there is no personality involved, it is impossible to acknowledge the existence of personal data and therefore impossible to apply data protection rules. Notwithstanding this exclusion from the sphere of application of the Organic Act on Data Protection, the new regulation implementing the act has included a rule on the notification and, where appropriate, cancellation of the data of the deceased. This solution requires analysis with respect to the legal nature of said acts, a question similar to the one raised with respect to the defence of the privacy, honour and image of the deceased in Act 1/1982 of 5 May (right of the persons mentioned in the regulation, exercise of one's own rights or transfer thereof; legal faculties). Furthermore, the data of deceased persons can be processed in different fields and for different purposes, which means analysis is also required of other rules referring to specific theme sectors. This paper studies the question related with said information in the health field, in the Civil Registry and in processing for historical reasons.