In late February 2024, the current government proposed an amendment to the Real Estate Cadastre Act (Act No. 162/1995 Coll. on the Real Estate Cadastre and on the Registration of Ownership and Other Rights to Real Estate), which is intended to regulate access to information. The cadastre contains personal data of data subjects, and currently anyone can access it anonymously, which is seen as a major problem from a personal data protection perspective. What is the amendment intended to achieve, and how is it supposed to help protect personal data?
The amendment to the law is currently in the drafting stage, and the public comment period is expected to begin in June 2024. This amendment is intended to address, in particular:
- legislative and technical shortcomings,
- types of land,
- conditions for submitting electronic filings,
- clarify the legal framework for decisions regarding the subject of registration in the cadastre,
- simplify the process for submitting a written application for registration,
- eliminate the reduction in the administrative fee for filing a notice of application for registration,
- conditions for registration in the real estate cadastre in connection with regulations governing international inheritance,
- in connection with new construction legislation, adjust the registration of the boundaries of a municipality’s built-up area in the real estate cadastre,
- retention periods for files in the real estate cadastre sector.
Another proposal in the amendment is the introduction of a login system for the land registry website. This would mean that one could access the data on the website only as a registered user using a chip-enabled ID card. As stated in the preliminary information on the amendment, the amendment is a response to the current situation, specifically the rising incidence of crime involving the misuse of personal data of individuals who hold rights to real estate and whose data is therefore necessarily contained in the cadastre.
How does the real estate cadastre currently work?
The real estate cadastre, with its official website ZBGIS, is a very well-designed online tool that is relatively easy to use. Based on an address, you can precisely locate a specific parcel or property. The cadastre will then provide you with an extract from the title deed containing all essential information and display a map showing the property’s location. The extract from the title deed includes all necessary details about the land (parcel), the structures located on the land, the owners, and any encumbrances related to the land. The owners’ personal data is processed to the extent of first name, last name, maiden name, title, address (or temporary address), and date of birth. All of this information is currently freely accessible to everyone. After the amendment to the law, this situation is expected to change, and it will no longer be possible to access this data without registering on ZBGIS.
Currently, it is possible to comment on the draft law and submit suggestions and proposals. The Slovensko Digital platform has also submitted such a proposal, as it fundamentally disagrees with the amendment and sees no justification for it. The first issue is the reason for requiring registration on the website. The government cites rising crime in this area and data misuse, yet this increase has not been substantiated in any way through statistics or other data. Slovakia Digitalcalls for evidence of data misuse in relation to legitimate data processing. The platform also points out that other public websites, such as the Slovak Commercial Register or the Register of Financial Statements, process personal data that is accessible to everyone anonymously, without the need to register on the site. Since these websites operate on a similar principle, merely providing different information (a different scope of data), it is not entirely clear why the land registry specifically should operate on the principle of authentication—that is, logging in using an ID card. Should the right to publicly available information be preserved for such websites? By logging in, the system automatically knows who searched for the information, meaning the user is no longer anonymous. At the same time, however, the amendment aims to provide property owners with information on who searched for their specific property in the land registry. How will property owners handle this data?
Some European Union countries have introduced fees for obtaining complete information, thereby circumventing the need for registration. A person who actually needs the data can request it electronically or in paper form for a small fee.
So what will the amendment bring, and what might it cause?
The primary goal of the amendment is to prevent unauthorized access to and processing of property owners’ data. In this case, the main issue is the scope of the data, which, however, will not ultimately change; only access will be restricted. Limited access to the data will remain publicly available to everyone without restriction. To access complete data, registration on the land registry website using an ID card with a chip is required. However, not everyone currently possesses such a card, so for a person without a chip, such access is completely impossible. By creating a registration system, the land registry processes the personal data of citizens who have registered and is required to do so by law.
The biggest problem, however, is the provision of data to property owners. Doesn’t the problem of data misuse actually turn against those who are searching for information in the land registry? In many situations, the registry has also been used by journalists to identify ownership relationships arising from illegal activities, as well as by ordinary citizens to find out who owns the land next to theirs if they wish to purchase it.
This fact must be handled with care, as this data processing must comply with the Personal Data Protection Act No. 18/2018 Coll. and the GDPR. If owners are provided with data on people viewing their property, they automatically become recipients of personal data (or third parties). Since they will have access to the data of data subjects, they are obligated to handle it in accordance with all rights that data subjects possess, including the right to erasure or restriction of processing and all other rights. At the same time, the scope to which this data will be provided is not precisely defined.
The Office for Personal Data Protection expressed a positive stance on the introduction of website registration, but did not comment on the issue of processing the data of those registering. What it should really focus on is precisely the purpose for which the data will be processed. The law establishes six legal grounds that determine the conditions under which data may be processed. At the same time, however, it should also focus on the scope of the data being processed, which should not exceed the data published in the land registry. Respectively, it is necessary to carefully consider to what extent it is essential and necessary to make this data available to owners at all.
The amendment raises many questions and issues that must be considered and discussed before its adoption, so that it does not ultimately lead to even more inconsistencies.
SOURCES:
Legislative Process - SLOV-LEX
