Malta : A group who tried to force the Church to erase their particulars
from its database yesterday lost an appeal against a decision by the
Data Commissioner, who had turned down their request.The members of the group – Not in Our Name, NION – had insisted that their names and details be removed because they no longer formed part of the Church.
NION “aims to help Maltese citizens dissociate themselves from the Roman Catholic Church”.
In the appeal against the Data Commissioner’s decision the group was represented by Ingram Bondin.
They argued that once the Church did not have their consent to process their personal data, which consisted of names and the dates when they received their First Holy Communion and Confirmation, the information should be erased.
In his decision, the Data Commissioner said that events such as their baptism and confirmation were recorded as part of the history of the Church and was done legitimately.
The Data Protection Appeals Tribunal noted the Church’s response in which it refused to acknowledge Mr Bondin’s representation of the members of NION, saying this was not in line with procedure.
It offered, however, to add a note to the Baptism Registry that Mr Bondin had left the Church.
It noted that the data was related to sacraments the Church administered and were collected by parish churches.
Such information was not disclosed to third persons and could not be removed from the records.
The tribunal was chaired by lawyer Edward Debono, with Jennifer Casingena Harper and George Sammut as members.