The right to be forgotten: theory and practice

Abstract

Recently, due to the rapid development of the European data protection legislation and approval of the GDPR, the right to be forgotten has become under the spotlight of scholars and public officials especially in Europe as well as a basis for heavy debates in Latin America countries. This paper presents the comprehensive analysis of the nature of the right to be forgotten from both scientific and practical point of view. The first part will be devoted to the theoretical framework including the definition of terms, its correlation as well as balance with other fundamental values and historical development amongst various jurisdictions. The second part focuses on current and planned data protection legislative regime practical applicability of the concept of the right to be forgotten by the CJEU and the ECHR. Finally, third part mainly concentrates on a wide scope of interpretation and description of criteria used by courts to apply the right to be forgotten in different states. As result, the paper concludes by proposing a balanced understanding of the right to be forgotten including its elements, criteria of identification and application by judges and modern challenges on its path.