The 28^th of January 1981 marks Privacy Day, on which the Data Protection Agreement was signed. Since 2007, the Europe Council has established Privacy Day with the support of the European Commission. Since the signing of the treaty, you as a citizen have the right to inspect, correct and delete, and organisations must properly handle the registration of personal data.

Why is Right of Access so important?

If you submit a request to an organisation for access to your personal data, you can check more than just the accuracy of the data;

• you can also check for what purpose the personal data is being used
• how the data was collected
• the type of data used
• with whom and whether this data will be shared
• how long the retention period of the data is

If it is the case that the data is not correct, you are allowed to have this corrected or removed. This gives insight into the way in which your personal data is being handled.

Who does the Right of Access apply to?

This applies to all citizens whose data is processed. All organisations that process personal data, must ensure that they facilitate the right of access. As a citizen you have the right to know whether an organisation has the correct data. If you want to know this, you have the right to ask an organisation to view your data. You do not have to say why you want to access. The organisation is not allowed to be secretive about what information they have about you, where it comes from and what happens to it.

Who pays attention to the protection of personal data?

In the Caribbean Netherlands, the Personal Data Protection Commission (CPB BES) is active. This independent body supervises the processing and protection of personal data. CBP BES started on the islands since 2014. In the first years, the focus was on providing information and promoting awareness about personal data. One of the tasks of the CBP BES has been to inform organisations about the frameworks of the law. Ultimately, the organisation is responsible for the method of processing.

This year, CPB BES is focusing its pillars on, among other things, the supervision and enforcement of the right of access, the processing of medical data, and the processing of the sedula data. In addition, awareness remains one of the tasks. “We want to continue to pay attention to the lawful processing of (particular) personal data, especially in times of the Corona pandemic,” said the chairman of the CBP BES, Mr. Glenn Thodé.

For more information, please visit the website www.cbpbes.com. If you, as a person or as an organisation, have questions about the way in which personal data is (should be) handled, you can contact the secretariat: info@cbpbes.com, telephone +599 715 9114.

CBP-BES