3 THE ITALIAN LAW JOURNAL NO. 2 (2017)

Privacy or Transparency? A New Balancing of Interests for the ‘Right to be Forgotten’ of Personal Data Published in Public Registers

by Oreste Pollicino and Giovanni De Gregorio

The European Court of Justice, in a decision dated 9 March 2017, dealt with the right of individuals to request of the authority responsible for maintaining the companies register the elimination (‘right to be forgotten’) of personal data concerning them entered in that register. According to the ECJ decision, as EU law currently stands, the right to be forgotten relating to information published in companies registers is to be determined by Member States on the basis of a case-by-case assessment. If compelling legitimate grounds relating to the requester’s particular situation exceptionally justify it, such authority may, upon the expiration of a sufficiently long period after the dissolution of the company concerned, limit access to such personal data entered in that register only to third parties who can demonstrate a specific interest in obtaining that data.

DOI 10.23815/2421-2156.ITALJ           ISSN 2421-2156

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