Data Protection Law in Belgium

The Data Protection Law in Belgium was created in order to ensure the protection of relevant information referring to both natural persons, as well as for legal entities operating on the local market.  It aims at the rights given to the data controllers, as well as on the consent of those who offer private information.  In this sense, the main rule of law is the Data Protection Directive, effective starting with the 1st of September 2001. Our Belgian law firm can offer more details on the main issues which are regulated under this legislation and can help persons discover the rights they have in this sense. 

 

The legislation referring to the data protection covers a wide area of matters, as the “personal data” term can include many aspects. For example, personal data can refer to a person’s name or phone number, or to the personal bank account, his or her address, but also to matters referring to the person’s profession. In this particular case, the term takes into consideration only the aspects related to the private life of a natural person. 

 

 

When discussing about data protection in Belgium, persons should know that there are supplementary laws, which refer to many aspects. For example, the usage of surveillance cameras is performed following the rules of the Camera Surveillance Law.

 

There is also a similar legislation, Collective Bargaining Agreement No. 68, which aims at the same issue in the case of monitoring the employees of a company. Moreover, the Collective Bargaining Agreement No. 81 deals with the electronic communication surveillance in the work environment. Persons working as employees in Belgium can receive more details on this law from our Belgian lawyers.  

 

Persons who are in need of medical care should know that they are protected under the Patient Rights Law 2002, which refers to the information they should provide as patients, and the data such persons should receive in order to provide their full consent over a medical problem. 

 

An important aspect of the legislation is that it does not differentiate amongst Belgian citizens and foreign persons, as it is uniformly applied. 

 

We invite those interested in the data protection legislation to contact our lawyers in Belgium for legal assistance.