Personal data processing: liberalization of regulation

An article by Evgeny Zhilin, Associate Partner at the Law Firm "YUST", and Vasiliy Raudin, Lawyer at the Firm, has been published in the “Korporativny yurist (Corporate Lawyer)” magazine (issue № 9, September 2011). The article is dedicated to the legal consequences of entry into force (in late July of 2011) of the new edition of the Federal Law “On personal data” № 152-FZ dated 27.07.2006.

The practice of application of this Law has showed that a number of its provisions are imperfect. And the amendments introduced are aimed at elimination of discovered gaps and collisions.

First, one should note the change in the conception of regulation of the personal data processing relationship. The earlier edition of the Law № 152-FZ fixed the general rule, according to which an operator was only able to process personal data upon consent of the data’s subject (part 1 of Article 6 of the Law № 152-FZ). Cases requiring no such consent were established by a special provision of part 2 of Article 6 of the Law № 152-FZ.

The new edition of the Law № 152-FZ does not contain the rule of necessary consent to process personal data from the subject of the data, and the list of cases requiring no such consent is substantially longer.

Thus, the readers of the publication will learn:

• What consequences the wording “in any form, which would allow verifying the fact of obtaining it [consent to process personal data]” brings and how it should be construed;
• The function and the scope of powers of the personal data subject’s representative under a power of attorney;
• What new cases of possible limitation of the personal data subject’s access to such data are stipulated and what the extension of this list will lead to.

A fragment of the article is available at the edition’s website.