The rise of the personal data quality principle: Is it legal and does it have an impact on the right to rectification?

Authors

  • Diana Dimitrova FIZ Karlsruhe - Leibniz Institute for Information Infrastructures GmbH

Abstract

EU data protection law anchors the principle of data accuracy and connects it to the right to rectification. Both provisions have remained underexplored in literature, leaving a significant academic gap. The present paper will argue that in regulatory and academic discourse there is a tendency to replace ‘data accuracy’ with ‘data quality.’ The discourse seems to suggest that the concept of data quality subsumes and goes beyond classical accuracy elements, i.e., it is broader than accuracy. It seems to include requirements on the quality of data processing, not simply on the individual personal data pieces. Many of the non-exhaustive elements of data quality, as derived from non-legal disciplines, could be traced to different principles and legality requirements of EU data protection law, giving the concept of ‘data quality’ a legal foundation. As a result, the scope of the right to rectification could be broader than what it is currently argued to be and could give rise to a broader range of legitimate claims by data subjects.  

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Published

28.12.2021

Issue

Section

Refereed Articles