Judicial recognition of self-enforceability of habeas data

In re "Sassaroli Claudio Daniel c / Irt. Medicina Para Empresas S.A. s/ otras diligencias” the plaintiff filed a habeas data claim against Irt. Medicina Para Empresas S.A., to obtain access to her medical history and any information related to her person recorded in the database of the defendant, as well as its origin and destination.

This claim was founded on section 43 of the Argentine Constitution, Personal Data Protection Law No. 25,326 ("PDPL"), Public Health Law No. 26,529 and Provincial Law of Summary Proceedings No. 10,456.

The lawsuit was filed with the First Instance Judge of the Labor District of the Eighth Nomination of Rosario, who rejected it in the first place based on the fact that the claim filed by the plaintiff could not be processed because the Province of Santa Fe had not adhered to the PDPL regime, which rules the habeas data remedy. The court upheld that the procedure provided for the summary proceedings could not be used in the case because the habeas data is an autonomous constitutional judicial remedy.

Room III of the Labor Court of Appeals of Rosario revoked the sentence of the First Instance Judge and approved the claim.

The Court referred to the Argentine Supreme Court of Justice’s reiterated position, and agreed that the absence of regulatory rules on procedural aspects does not constitute an obstacle to the exercise of certain guarantees that exist and protect individuals as they are enshrined in the Argentine Constitution. In addition, the Court invoked section 37 of the PDPL that establishes that the habeas data action will be governed by the procedural rules corresponding to the summary proceedings and alternatively by the rules of the Argentine Civil and Commercial Procedural Code with regards to the summary proceedings.

The Court held that: (i) habeas data action may be classified as a kind of summary proceedings; (ii) obtaining medical and personal data constitutes a fundamental right of the plaintiff; (iii) in the absence of local legislation for the processing of habeas data claims, the Province of Santa Fe's summary proceedings is the most appropriate means for the purpose of the lawsuit filed.

The Court concluded that habeas data claims do not constitute just a mere right but a constitutional guarantee; consequently their operability cannot depend on the negligence of the legislative branch in adhering or not to a regulatory law. As long as the provinces do not adhere or dictate their own procedure, the summary proceedings should be applied since first and foremost the plaintiff has a constitutional guarantee to know all the personal data related to his or her health and to decide on the use of that personal information.