Spain

• Author: Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (European Commission), European Centre of Expertise (ECE)
• Pages: 53-58

Flash Re por t 1 2/2018

Decem ber 20 18

53

Spain

Sum ma ry

The m ost r elevant n ov elty t his mon th is t he approv al of a Data Prot ection Law t hat

com plem ent s Regulat ion ( EU) 2 016/ 679. The Law pr ovides ru les f or so-called ‘dig ital

rights’ for t he f irst time in Spanish hist ory. Am ong ot hers, it recognises t he workers’

‘right to disconnect’ .

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1 Nation al Le gislat ion

1.1 Data p rot ect ion law

The Or ganic Law 3/ 2018 u pdat es the Spanish r egulation of p ersonal dat a prot ection t o

adapt it t o Regulation (EU) 201 6/6 79, an d repeals t he previou s Organic Law 1 5/ 199 9,

wh ich had transposed Direct ive 95/ 46/ EC. The Org an ic Law 3/ 2018 contain s two

dif ferent parts. On t h e on e hand, t he ru les on personal dat a pr otect ion represent a

nat ional developm en t of t he EU Regulation. On t he other, they guar antee so-call ed

‘digital r ight s’. These right s connect w ith Ar ticle 18 ( 4) of the Const itution, which lim its

th e use o f I T to g uarant ee t he h onou r an d personal and family pr ivacy of indi vidu als.

Wit h regard to the protect ion of p ersonal dat a, Or ganic Law 3/ 2018 closely follow s th e

provisions of Regulation 2016/ 679, and t o this end covers th e following issu es:

principles of dat a protect ion, right s of persons in relation to their dat a, special

processin g of cer t ain data (with particular reference to th e processing of dat a for t he

purp ose of video surveillance) , faculties and obligations of the cont r oller and t he

processor ( w it h references t o t he data prot ection officer and th e codes of con du ct ) ,

internation al t r an sfer of personal data, Spanish au thorit ies on dat a pr otection (m ainly

th e Sp anish Age ncy for Dat a Prot ect ion) , t he pro cedur es i n r elat ion to the pro cessin g of

dat a and the r emed ies, liabilit y and p en alties ( with a m andate of of ficial publication of

th e san ction s im posed on a l egal enti ty that exceed EUR 1 mill ion) .

As r eg ar ds g uarantees related t o digital r ig hts, the Law cont ains a general part,

app licab le to all citizens, and a special part, applicable to em ploym ent relationships

(includin g civil servant s). In t he general part, the Law recognises that t he rights and

freed oms enshr ined in the Con stit ution and in internation al t reat ies ar e fu lly applicab le

to internet use, so th at ser vice providers m u st contribu te to respecting them. Users

have t he right t o int ern et neut r alit y, so int ern et ser vice providers m u st elaborate a

tr ansp ar en t off er of serv ices w it hout discrim inat ion for t echnical or econom ic reasons.

It also recognises citizens t he following rights: universal access t o the int ernet, digital

security, digit al edu cat ion, freedom of expr ession and r ectificat ion on the in ternet,

updating of infor m at ion in digital m edia, r ight t o be r em oved from int ern et searches,

right t o be rem oved f rom social network services and t he right to p or tability of d ata in

social netwo rk ser vices.

In the par t d edicated t o t he em ploy m ent relation ship, Organic Law 3/ 201 8 h as

int r od uced t wo measures. On the on e hand , it has introdu ced a new article into the

Labo ur Code ( Article 20 bis) , accor ding to w hich workers h ave th e ri ght t o pr ivacy with

regar d t o t he d igit al devices t hey u se at work , t he r ight to digit al discon nect ion and the

right t o privacy against th e use of video surveillance an d geolocation devices. An

equ iva lent r ight h as be en r ecog nised in par ti cular fo r p ubl ic em plo yees (Ar ti cle 1 4 o f t he

Basic St atu te for Public Em ploy ees).

Org anic Law 3/ 201 8 spe cifies the co nten t of these r ights:

• Accor ding t o Article 87 of the Law, workers h ave the right t o pr otection of t heir

privacy in t he use of digital devices provided by the em p loyer, so that t he