- Human rights
Why do we care about privacy and the protection of our personal data? Because people have fundamental rights, such as the right to privacy. This right is enshrined in the Dutch Constitution.
The Constitution establishes the fundamental rights of citizens (English version), as can be seen in this video (in Dutch only):
Informational privacy
Informational privacy is the right to decide what data you share, how and with whom, for what purpose, and for how long. This right to self-determination for the processing of your personal data can only exist if that right is protected. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has been drawn up for this purpose. People often use the terms ‘privacy’ and ‘data protection’ synonymously, but data protection is only one component of privacy and is only related to the processing of personal data.
Privacy is a fundamental human right, as laid down in:
The distinction between the broader context of privacy and the specific role played by data protection within it is evident in the distinction made in Articles 7 and 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union; only the latter Article deals with the protection of personal data.
Subsequently, the GDPR establishes how an individual can exercise their right to privacy and the corresponding responsibilities during the processing of personal data. Furthermore, the GDPR describes the applicable principles, i.e. the principles relating to processing of personal data, see GDPR Article 5. In addition to the GDPR, an EU Member State may stipulate further rules in certain cases, through national implementation acts. In the Netherlands, this national implementation act has come into effect as of 1/1/2020 and is called the General Data Protection Regulation (Implementation) Act (in Dutch only), also known as the UAVG. It should be noted, however, that the legislator has striven to establish a ‘policy neutral’ implementation of the GDPR, see (Parliamentary Papers II 2017/18, 34851, 3, p. 17 (2.4 The relationship between European law and national law: layered regulations) (in Dutch only)):
In accordance with the general principle for the implementation of European regulations, the aim has been to ensure a policy neutral interpretation of the scope offered by the Regulation. In other words, while interpreting the Regulation within national legislation, it was always considered whether and to what extent the existing national legislation and policy choices could be maintained under the Regulation. Where that is not or not entirely possible, the choice has always been to adhere as closely as possible to the existing national law.
In the following chapters, we will explore the general and fundamental right to privacy, and the part of it that is also referred to as informational privacy which is limited to the protection of personal data.
