We would like to inform you about the amendment to Act No. 18/2018 on the Protection of Personal Data and on Amendments to Certain Acts, and to Act No. 211/2000 on Free Access to Information. Act No. 373/2021 Z. z. amended the Personal Data Protection Act and the Act on Free Access to Information, effective as of November 1, 2021.
The Personal Data Protection Act is supplemented by Section 3(6), which reads:
“This Act does not apply to the processing of personal data of deceased persons where such processing is carried out for scientific purposes, statistical purposes, artistic purposes, press reporting, radio and television broadcasting, archiving, documentation, historical research, cemetery operations, the placement of memorials and commemorative plaques, and the holding of commemorative events and ceremonies to the extent necessary for their fulfillment.”
Slovak legislation caused considerable, mainly administrative, difficulties in connection with the processing of personal data of deceased persons. The Personal Data Protection Act required, in cases where the legal basis for processing the personal data of deceased persons was consent pursuant to Article 6(1)(a) of 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, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation), hereinafter referred to as the “GDPR”), the consent of a close relative or all close relatives. If even a single next of kin did not grant consent to the processing of the deceased’s personal data, the controller could not process such personal data.
The amendment to the law reduces bureaucracy and enables the processing of personal data of deceased persons, especially within public administration, where many municipalities and cities have suspended the publication of information about deceased persons for the purpose of informing the public about a death or commemorating the anniversary of a death.
Consent for the purpose of such processing of personal data will no longer be required.
