It refers to data relating to : ethnic or racial origin, political opinions, religious or malaysian phone numbers philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership, and the processing of genetic data, biometric data aimed at uniquely identifying a natural person, data relating to the health or data relating to the sexual life or sexual orientation of a natural person.
These are certain categories of data that, due to their nature or their relationship with the fundamental rights of individuals, require special protection when processing such data. In addition, companies or professionals who use this type of data have additional obligations. To find out if your company complies with data protection regulations, it is best to put yourself in the hands of professionals such as Abogados en Villaverde . This is a law firm specializing in data protection and offers comprehensive legal advice.
Exceptions to the prohibition on processing specially protected data
The general rule is that the processing of specially protected data is prohibited , but as the law is not all black and white, there are exceptions. The regulation itself and article 9 of the Organic Law 3/2018 , of December 5, on the Protection of Personal Data and the Guarantee of Digital Rights establish by default the prohibition of the processing of these specially protected data.
Thus, as stated in art. 9.2 of the European Regulation , this prohibition will not apply when one of the following circumstances occurs:
The processing is necessary for the fulfilment of obligations and the exercise of specific rights of the controller or the data subject in the field of labour law and social security and protection
The processing is necessary to protect the vital interests of the data subject or of another natural person, if the data subject is not physically or legally capable of giving consent.
The processing is carried out, within the scope of its legitimate activities and with the appropriate guarantees, by a foundation, an association or any other non-profit organization, whose purpose is political, philosophical, religious or trade union , provided that the processing refers exclusively to current or former members of such organizations or to persons who maintain regular contacts with them.
The processing relates to personal data that the data subject has made manifestly public .
The processing is necessary for the formulation, exercise or defence of legal claims or when the courts act in the exercise of their judicial function .
The processing is necessary for reasons of essential public interest which must be proportionate to the objectives pursued.
The processing is necessary for the purposes of preventive or occupational medicine , assessment of the employee's work capacity, medical diagnosis, provision of health or social care or treatment, or management of health and social care systems and services.
The processing is necessary for reasons of public interest in the area of public health , such as protecting against serious cross-border threats to health, or ensuring high standards of quality and safety of healthcare and of medicinal products or medical devices.
Processing is necessary for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes.
At the state level , Organic Law 3/2018 not only prohibits the processing of specially protected data but also guarantees maximum protection, greater than that established by the European Regulation.
Thus, art. 9.1 LO Data Protection states:
In order to avoid discriminatory situations, the consent of the affected party alone will not be sufficient to lift the prohibition on the processing of data whose main purpose is to identify his or her ideology, union affiliation, religion, sexual orientation, beliefs or racial or ethnic origin.
That is, these specially protected data may be processed, taking into account the exceptions regulated in the Regulation, but NOT when the processing is based on the consent of the interested party.