Court Upholds Habeas Data Action Grounded on Inaccurate Information Provided to the Central Bank

A former legal representative of Cooperativa de Vivienda y Consumo Integrar Ltda. filed a habeas data action grounded on Personal Data Protection Law No. 25,326 (the “PDPL,” for its acronym in Spanish) against the local bank, Banco Hipotecario (the “Bank”), claiming that the Bank had ignored its prior claims in breach of sections 13 and 14 of the PDPL. 

In this action, the plaintiff requested that the Bank rectify certain personal information contained in its database, as it was inaccurate, and, also, that it communicate and rectify the information submitted to the BCRA. The action was accepted by the trial court. The defendant appealed.

In the case, it was demonstrated that the Bank closed the plaintiff’s account in 2010 and that it had notified the BCRA of rejected checks from Cooperativa 6 years after it had ceased to be Cooperativa’s legal representative and 8 years after the account had been closed. This is the information the plaintiff requested that the Bank rectify and update.

On that basis, the Court of Appeals held that, despite having allegedly complied with a legal obligation to notify the BCRA of debtors, the defendant incurred in unlawful behavior, as it is not enough to invoke a legal obligation; complying means fulfilling what is required by law with respect to the quality of the data (i.e. in an accurate and complete manner).

Lastly, the Court of Appeals highlighted the relevance of the discomfort that the fact of being “reported” to the BCRA as a debtor could cause to any person, resulting in damage to their honor and having a serious impact on the affected person.

Thus, the Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal and upheld the trial court’s judgment.