Legal aspects of storage limitation principle and third persons rights to information, interpretation by the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Human Rights Court in data protection cases

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to clarify the scope of the data storage limitation principle in relation to data that may serve as evidence for third parties to defend their right in a fair trial in civil procedure. On the basis of the research the following can be concluded: Besides the protection of personal data in Article 7 and 8, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union also protects the right to a fair trial as is stated in Article 47 (1). The claimant must have access to the data, firstly, about the defendant, to the extent required by the procedural rules, and secondly, to the evidence of the infringement. The claimant has rights to receive information in order to discover infringement and enjoy the rights to a fair trial. Data should be stored for the purposes of the legitimate interests of the third party as evidence. Where the purpose of processing is the legitimate interest of a third party, the data controller must establish at the outset of the data the legitimate purpose and assess the interests or fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subject. The data should be kept in a form, which permits identification of data subjects as long as it is necessary in order to be used as evidence in court. The Court has established the practice that the storage of data and its duration are to be assessed in the light of the general conditions of lawfulness so that data are stored lawfully and for an adequate period of time. The storage and processing of data must be inferred primarily from the type of data itself, then from the existence of a legitimate interest on the part of the third party and finally from the data subject's rights and interests. As a result of the research the author has reached the conclusion that the thesis has been proved as: “The General Data Protection Regulation, as well as Directive 95/46/EC, allows storage of data that may serve as evidence for the third party to defend their right in a fair trial in civil procedure if the data, legitimate interest are compatible with the fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subject.”