Privacy Violation Claims: the Legal Grounds
A claim for violation of confidentiality in Georgia is a demand built on several legal institutions, and its basis depends on the concrete circumstances. The general framework is created by personal non-pecuniary rights: a person has the right, through the court and in the manner established by law, to protect their honor, dignity, privacy of personal life, personal inviolability or business reputation from violation. Violation of the privacy of personal life is the central case of this protection — and it is exercised irrespective of the infringer's fault.
Where secret data have been disseminated through mass-information media, the law also provides informational remedies: the denial of injurious statements must likewise occur through the same media, and where a document issued by an organization contains such data, that document must be replaced and interested persons informed of it. In case of a culpable violation the person may demand compensation of damage and compensation of moral harm — independently of the compensation of pecuniary damage.
The Right of Access to Personal Data: a Discovery Instrument
One of the most practical instruments of a confidentiality dispute is access to information. A person has the right to become acquainted with the personal data and records concerning it that are connected with its financial condition or other private matters, and to receive copies of that data, apart from the cases defined by legislation. A person may not be refused the provision of information containing personal data or records about it.
This norm works at the preparation stage of the dispute: before the source of the disseminated information is established, it is often necessary to see what data about the person exist at all. The law also regulates the transfer of data: any person is obliged, on the basis of a written request, to transfer to another person the personal data and records kept with it, where the requester presents the written consent of the person whose data the information represents — and in doing so it is obliged to protect the secrecy of that data.
The Professional Secrecy of the Mandatary
In the context of business relationships one of the principal rules of confidentiality lies within the framework of the contract of mandate: the mandatary must not disclose facts known to it in the course of its activity whose secret keeping the mandator is lawfully interested in, unless a duty of disclosure exists on the basis of law, or the mandator does not permit the mandatary to disclose it.
The duration of this duty is particularly significant: the duty not to disclose facts exists even after the end of the contractual relationship. In other words, a lawyer, accountant or consultant whose engagement has ended is still obliged to keep secret the business facts known to it — and violation of this rule becomes the ground of a claim.
Banking and Commercial Secrets
The protection of financial information has its own rule: a credit institution is obliged to protect the secrecy of facts connected with an account and other such facts that became known to it in the course of business relations with the account holder, apart from the cases contemplated by law or where the matter concerns ordinary banking information by which the account holder's interests are not violated. This duty remains in force after the termination of the contract as well.
The industrial-commercial secret is a separate object of protection: an entrepreneur who holds an industrial-commercial secret — know-how, representing technological, organizational or commercial information of special significance, confirmed by the necessary and sufficient measures taken to keep it secret — has an exclusive right to that information. The practical conclusion is clear: the more measures have been taken to protect the secrecy, the firmer the claim for its violation.
Combination with Defamation Rules
A violation of confidentiality often occurs together with defamation: the disseminated data are evidently incorrect. Here the rules on the publicizing of damage-bringing statements apply: a person who intentionally or negligently disseminates or publicizes facts bringing pecuniary damage to another person is obliged to compensate the damage arising therefrom, where those facts are evidently incorrect. The obligation to compensate damage does not arise from statements that serve the protection of lawful public interests.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below we answer the most frequent questions about confidentiality claims.
What may be demanded on a violation of confidentiality?
Cessation of the act or its disavowal by the violator; where the information was disseminated through mass media, refutation through the same media, and where it is contained in a document issued by an organization, the replacement of that document; on culpable infringement, compensation of damage, including non-pecuniary damage.
May one access one's own personal data?
Yes — a person is entitled to examine personal data concerning himself and to receive copies, and refusal to give such information is not allowed save in statutorily defined cases.
Does the mandatary's secrecy survive the contract?
Yes — the duty not to divulge facts exists after the contractual relationship has ended.
What about banking secrecy after termination?
The credit institution's duty also remains in force after termination of the contract.
How We Help on Legal.ge
Preparation of the claim begins with fixing the fact and channel of the violation: what was disseminated, who disseminated it and through which media. Then the legal framework is determined — privacy of personal life, professional, banking or commercial secrecy — and the form of the demand: cessation, denial, replacement of a document, compensation of damage and moral harm. Establishing the source of the data also matters, where the right of access serves as an auxiliary instrument. The specialists of Legal.ge will assist you in preparing a privacy violation claim and conducting the dispute at every stage. The lawyers of Legal.ge assist at every one of these stages — from fixing the violation to preparing the claim and the court demand.