Local trial court appoints a DPO to protect personal data involved in proceedings

In an unusual decision, civil and commercial court No. 2 of Azul held that, because of the regular interaction of public offices with a digital ecosystem resulting from a generalized use of a document management system (DMS), information contained in judicial proceedings has multiplied and become an unexpected part of big data, modifying the concept of “publicity” contained in the procedural law code.

Moreover, the court stressed that, even when it favors Open Justice, the goal of openness should be achieved by guaranteeing, at the same time, the right to intimacy and privacy of the participants to the proceedings.

In that connection, and on the basis of an investigation project in which the judge participated in the past, entitled “Intimacy, informational self-determination and sovereign identity of the information society,” and taking into consideration that Augusta, the operating system used by the court, does not allow for dissociation or anonymization of data, the court decided to apply certain measures in addition to those already in place.

In that regard, the court appointed its Clerk as data protection officer overseeing the personal data involved in its proceedings. The DPO will be charged with supervising the application of the Court’s data protection policy and interacting with the Data Protection Authority and the Communication and Press Department of the Supreme Court of the Province of Buenos Aires.

Moreover, the court clarified that the parties may request that the data protection officer suppress, anonymize, or dissociate personal data when appropriate.

This is the first time a court appoints a data protection officer within specific proceedings before the court.