Zasebnost in varstvo osebnih podatkov : razmerja med koncepti, pravicami in nosilci v Sloveniji in EU

slovenian

2021

volume 57, issue 3/4

good administration   legislation and case-law   personal data protection   privacy   public information   Slovenia and the EU   theory

Univerza v Ljubljani, Pravna fakulteta

In terms of normative theoretical definition and, in particular, consistent enforcement of legislation in practice, privacy and personal data protection are recognised as important aspects of democratic government and good administration in both Slovenia and the European Union. However, the doctrinal relations between privacy and personal data protection or between privacy and transparency are often vague. By analysing theory and empirical studies as well as systemic regulations and administrative case-law, the article aims to provide a definition of the above concepts and of the associated rights and stakeholders. Research draws on the premise that clear regulations, scope and procedure relating to the exercise of rights are a precondition for the effective achievement of the objectives of regulation and thus for the implementation of the related principles. The article tests the hypotheses that, in both regulations and practice, privacy and personal data protection are not consistently defined and that administrative case-law largely focuses on weighing more tangible rights of personal data protection and access to public information. The results of the analyses suggest that, despite certain commonalities, the concepts of privacy and personal data protection are sometimes understood as parallel. Generally, however, personal data protection (only) means a subset of the broader concept of the rights(s) to privacy, as deriving from the General Data Protection Regulation and Slovenian legislation, as well as Slovenian and European case-law. Therefore, in practice, even the Information Commissioner and the Slovenian courts tend to be more concerned with the relation between personal data protection and public information than with the relation between privacy and personal data protection. In pursuance of good administration and democratic government, such weighing on a case-by-case basis alone is certainly less than ideal. Thus, in future, greater focus should be placed on the conceptual development of privacy, both in theory and practice.

12.11.2024