Right-to-Be-Forgotten Requests: The Real Foundations of Georgian Law
The idea of the right to be forgotten — the demand to remove personal data and information about one's past from search results and platforms — comes from international practice, and clarity is needed here: Georgian law has no separate, special right-to-be-forgotten statute. What exists are two real layers: the special law on the protection of personal data, which regulates the regime of data processing, and the instruments of personal non-property rights in the Civil Code. This page deals precisely with the civil-law layer: the claims that are built on the norms of the Code and that rest on the general existence of the data law as additional regulation.
Personal Non-Property Rights as the Foundation
Article 18 of the Civil Code begins from the point that a person has the right, through the court and in the manner established by law, to protect honour, dignity, the secrecy of private life, personal inviolability or business reputation from infringement. This frame is general, and disputes arising from the dissemination of information fit precisely within it: information of a historical or private character concerning personal life belongs to the sphere protected by this right. A demand of cessation of the infringement arises directly against the infringer, and this instrument is precisely the remedy applied to disseminated information. The fifth part of the same article also protects images: publishing a person’s photograph, film or video without consent falls within this protection, save for the cases listed by law — public recognition, the position held, the demands of justice or the police, scientific, educational or cultural purposes, a public setting, or remuneration received for posing.
The Right of Access to Personal Data as a Discovery Tool
The practical first step of a forgetting demand is often discovery of the information: what data exists, where and who keeps it. Here Article 18-1 of the Civil Code operates: a person has the right to become acquainted with the personal data and records concerning them that relate to their financial or property situation or other private matters, and to receive copies of this data. A person may not be refused the giving of information containing personal data or records about them. On the basis of a written request, the holder of the data has the duty to transfer it. The rule of transfer to another person is likewise detailed: any person is obliged, on the basis of a written request, to transfer to another person the personal data kept with it, where the written consent of the person concerned is presented, and in doing so it protects the secrecy of the data (Article 18-1). This norm is used to prepare a forgetting demand: first we learn what exists, then we demand its removal or the cessation of its dissemination.
The Defamation Tort and Non-Pecuniary Damage
Where the disseminated information is evidently incorrect, the basis of compensation becomes Article 993 of the Civil Code: a person who intentionally or negligently disseminates or publicises facts damaging to another person's property must compensate the damage arising therefrom. At the same time, no obligation to compensate arises for statements that serve the protection of lawful public interests. The content side of damage is regulated by Article 413: monetary compensation for non-pecuniary damage may be demanded only in cases precisely defined by law, in the form of reasonable and fair compensation. In disputes over reputational and private-life damage, the moral component is significant, but its substantiation requires serious preparation.
Protection After Death
The construction of personal rights also works after death. Under Article 19 of the Civil Code, the rights mentioned in Article 18 may also be exercised by a person who, although not the bearer of the right to the name or personal dignity, has an interest worthy of protection. Such a person may demand such protection of the name and dignity as is determinative of the person's essence and continues after death. In disputes concerning information related to the memory of a deceased person, this norm gives relatives a route of action. One boundary, however, follows from here: after death the demand of monetary compensation for moral damage for infringement of the name, honour, dignity or business reputation is inadmissible (Article 19).
Strategy: How to Build the Demand
A realistic strategy is built in three stages. First: discovery — using the right of access to establish what data and information exist. Second: qualification — for each piece of information it is separately decided whether it is an evidently incorrect fact, private information within the sphere of the secrecy of private life, or a statement protected by public interest. Third: the demand — cessation, refutation, removal or compensation, including correcting information through the same means. Without this three-stage approach the demand remains incomplete.
Does a separate forgetting law exist?
No — claims are built on the personal data protection law and the personal non-property rights of the Civil Code.
How do I learn what data exists?
A person may acquaint themselves with their personal data and receive copies; refusal is inadmissible (Article 18-1).
May moral damage be claimed for a deceased person’s name?
No — after death the demand of monetary compensation for moral damage is inadmissible (Article 19).
Who may be the subject of the demand?
Also a person with an interest worthy of protection — the right continues after death (Article 19).
How We Help on Legal.ge
Our team builds right-to-be-forgotten demands precisely on these real foundations: we inventory the data, qualify each piece of information, prepare demands of access, cessation and refutation and, where necessary, present the compensation claim in court. Contact Legal.ge so that the management of your personal past happens on a legal foundation.