A partial overview of the data subjects' control over their personal data under the general data protection regulation

• Author: Maria-Magdalena Bârsan
• Position: Transilvania University of Brasov
• Pages: 129-134

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşo v

Series VII: Social Sciences • Law • Vol. 11 (60) No. 2 - 2018

A PARTIAL OVERVIEW OF THE DATA SUBJECTS’

CONTROL OVER THEIR PERSONAL DATA UNDER

THE GENERAL DATA PROTECTION REGULATION

Maria-Magdalena BÂRSAN1

Abstract: The legal framework on data protection was updated recently by

the Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council

of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the

processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data.

According to this new regulation natural persons should have control of their

own personal data. As such, the effective protection of personal data

throughout the Union required the strengthening and setting out in detail of

the rights of data subjects. In view of the novel legal framework, this article

aims to explore some of the data subjects' main rights as to the control over

the processing of their personal data.

Key words: GDPR, right to be informed, right of access, right to be digitally

forgotten, right to de-referencing.

1. Introduction

In the words of The Economist: “The world’s most valuable resource is no longer oil,

but data”. Since personal data emanates from individuals, it’s only natural that recital 7

of the Regulation (EU) 2016/679 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the

processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data provides that

“natural persons should have control of their own personal data” and the legal and

practical certainty for individuals should be enhanced.

In this context, the data subjects' control over their own data is achieved by a series of

rights and the correlative obligations of those who process and determine the

processing of personal data. As such, the exercise by the data subject of the rights

conferred by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) should ensure an effective

protection of personal data throughout the Union.

In order to overview how these rights provide to the data subjects control over the

digital processing of personal data, we chose to present some of those rights which in

our view have the highest impact on the processing activities: the right to be informed

(article 13-14 GDPR), the right of access (article 15 GDPR) and the right to be digitally

forgotten (right to de-referencing) consecrated by the Court of Justice of the E.U.

1 Transilvania University of Braşov, maria.m.barsan@unitbv.ro.