Brussels, 19/08/2014 (Agence Europe) - European Commissioner for Justice Martine Reichert has no intention of allowing the large search engines to discredit the ruling returned by the Court of Justice of the EU on the right to be forgotten in order to undermine the reform of data protection (see EUROPE 11078). Reichert made this clear in Lyon on 18 August, at a conference of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA).
With search engines such as Google complaining about this ruling, which holds them responsible for the treatment of personal data published on third-party websites, the Commissioner warned them: “handling citizens' personal data brings huge economic benefits to them. It also brings responsibility. These are two sides of the same coin”. She reiterated the fact that the right to be forgotten does not authorise anyone and everyone to demand content be removed simply because it is embarrassing, but allows a balance to be struck between the legitimate interests of internet users and the respect for fundamental rights, such as the freedom of expression.
She added that anybody trying to distort this notion of the right to be forgotten in order to discredit the reform on data protection, particularly digital data, was not playing by the rules. “I will not let them abuse this crucial ruling to stop us from opening the digital single market for companies and putting in place stronger protection for citizens”, she warned.
She also urged the member states to stick to the goal they laid down at the European summit of June, of adopting a new data protection framework by 2015 (our translation throughout). (MD)