Will the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) interfere with baptismal records? An unidentified individual residing in Belgium wants to not only debaptize, but also remove his name from the Catholic Church’s baptismal register. He also requested that. However, the church maintains that baptism leaves an indelible spiritual mark, and although it does not erase the name, it usually adds a note indicating that the person wishes to leave the church.
Following the incident, the Belgian Data Protection Authority (APD) ordered the diocese of Ghent to remove the person’s name from its records in mid-December. APD states that while the Church has a legitimate interest in recording baptisms in the register, this interest is always triggered when a person leaves the Church and expresses a desire to have their baptism data erased. I don’t think it will happen.
APD said the church’s method of simply amending records violates the GDPR, which has been regulating the processing of personal data in the European Union since May 2018.
From a data protection point of view, the lifelong processing of data, especially sensitive data of a person who has requested to leave the church, is justified if this processing is not proportionate to the interests of the church and is not strictly necessary. you can’t. These conditions were not met, said Litigation Chamber President and APD Director Hielke Heymans.
The Belgian Church had 30 days (until January 18) to appeal the decision. Jesuit priest Tommy Scholtes, a spokesman for the Belgian Bishops’ Conference, assured that the church would not contest the final decision, but stressed: “We want to see this through to the end.”
A decision last year by the Irish Data Protection Commission signals a possible victory for the commission against the Belgian church. Indeed, the Dublin-based authority has determined that individuals seeking debaptism do not have the right to have their personal data erased from the baptism register.
It is difficult to predict the possible outcome in this case, but since the core of the issue relates to the application of the GDPR (applicable to Belgium, Ireland and 25 other EU countries), it is likely to be a theoretical argument. is. Among the judges of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Luxembourg. They are empowered to interpret his EU laws, including the GDPR.