“We can’t change the past, but the future is in our own hands” (Anonymous) This is one way to describe one of the many messages behind the writing of village chronicles.
The village chronicle helps us look back into the past and record current moments and events in the village. Even today, we still see the need to document significant historical moments. Municipal chronicling is a legal obligation in Slovakia pursuant to Section 4(3)(s) of Slovak National Council Act No. 369/1990 Coll. on Municipal Administration, and since Act No. 80/1920 SB. on municipal memorial books, along with Government Regulation No. 169/1932 SB. on municipal memorial books, it became the sole valid legal norm.
Although the statutory rules for maintaining chronicles have been repealed, the basic rules for maintaining a chronicle can be derived from the following legal regulations:
- The Constitution of the Slovak Republic,
- The Criminal Code,
- Act No. 40/1964 Coll. The Civil Code,
- REGULATION (EU) 2016/679 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of April 27, 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation), hereinafter referred to as the “GDPR,”
- Act No. 18/2018 Coll. on the Protection of Personal Data and on Amendments to Certain Acts,
- Act No. 185/2015 Coll. Copyright Act.
Writing a chronicle is a very commendable but also demanding activity. However, a municipal chronicle is not merely a book recording events; it is also an archive of documentary appendices to the annual records. These appendices may include photographs, printed materials, audiovisual works, and recorded interviews with local elders or prominent figures of the municipality. There are even chroniclers who collect three-dimensional objects.
First and foremost, it is necessary to take into account the protection of personality rights.
According to Section 11 of the Civil Code No. 40/1964, a natural person has the right to the protection of their personality, in particular their life and health, civic honor and human dignity, as well as their privacy, their name, and expressions of a personal nature.
Section 12 of the Civil Code No. 40/1964 stipulates that:
- Documents of a personal nature, portraits, photographs, and audio and video recordings relating to a natural person or their expressions of a personal nature may be created or used only with their consent.
- Consent is not required if documents of a personal nature, portraits, photographs, audio recordings, or audiovisual recordings are produced or used for official purposes pursuant to law.
- Portraits, photographs, and audiovisual recordings may also be made or used in an appropriate manner without the natural person’s consent for scientific and artistic purposes and for press, film, radio, and television reporting. However, even such use must not conflict with the legitimate interests of the natural person.
Last but not least, we must not overlook the protection of personal data. According to the GDPR, the definition of personal data is as follows: “personal data” means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (hereinafter referred to as the “data subject”); an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier, or by reference to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural, or social identity of that natural person.” It is clear from this definition that the chronicle contains personal data to varying degrees.
The municipality determines the scope of entries in the chronicle. The processing of personal data for the purpose of recording in the chronicle does not require the consent of the data subject whose data is being recorded, provided that only events involving the number of persons, or possibly their first and last names, are recorded. The chronicler should process personal data with great care and only to the minimum extent necessary.
It is up to the chronicler to decide whether to record events related to individuals’ private lives, such as weddings, the birth of children, or significant life milestones. Such an entry in the chronicle must not, by the scope of the personal data recorded, unduly interfere with the privacy of the individuals concerned; that is, if the entry in the chronicle includes a first name, last name, address, or possibly the date or year of birth—such processing is already subject to consent for the processing of personal data, not to mention the necessity of consent even in the case of providing personal data to third parties, as this constitutes a further purpose of processing.
Every municipality is required to appoint a chronicler—a person who should be intellectually and professionally qualified to collect and process data and information.
The chronicler is obligated to maintain confidentiality regarding data that is not directly related to their work and must exercise caution when providing personal data to third parties, i.e., when publishing the chronicle.
The chronicle is maintained in written or electronic form; in accordance with the principle of personal data protection, it is not published on the operators’ website. It is accessible under certain conditions:
Anyone may inspect the chronicle. A person requesting access to the chronicle (researcher) should, upon request, fill out a researcher’s card, pursuant to Section 12 of Act No. 395/2002 Coll. on Archives and Registries and on the Amendment of Certain Acts, in which the operator specifies the conditions for viewing the chronicle, and access itself should be permitted only with an authorized person—the chronicler.
In the past, chronicles were written in great detail, as no system for population registration or civil registry had been established. Since we now have public administration information systems for population registration and civil registry, it is appropriate to write the chronicle from the perspective of village life and significant events within it, and to strive to minimize the inclusion of personal data.
After all, the chronicler’s work is not merely for us, their contemporaries, but serves primarily as a testament to the past and present for the future.
SOURCES:
Laws:
- Act of the Slovak National Council No. 369/1990 Coll. on Municipal Administration
- Civil Code 40/1964 Coll.
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