Personal Data Protection and Safeguarding Draft Act June 2019 Article 17 provides for the right of every person to be protected against arbitrary or unlawful interference with his privacy, family, home, or correspondence as well as against unlawful attacks on his honour and reputation.65 The Council of Europe Modernised Convention 108 on Data Protection also says that: The purpose of this Convention is to protect every individual, whatever his or her nationality or residence, with regard to the processing of their personal data, thereby contributing to respect for his or her human rights and fundamental freedoms, and in particular the right to privacy.66 The General Data Privacy Regulation (GDPR) applies to “the processing of personal data of data subjects who are in the Union”. 67 The recently adopted Data Protection law in Bahrain also applies to natural persons who are also conducting business in the country or outside if it is “using means available” in Bahrain.68 3. The Draft Act Gives Privacy Rights to Companies Further, an additional problem is that the Draft Act also gives the data protection rights of individuals to companies. This is a problematic aspect of the Draft Act that is against international standards. It should be borne in mind that the right to privacy and data protection are human rights that, as such, only apply to individuals. Companies, as legal entities, may have specific legal protections relating to trade secrets, intellectual property, and commercial confidentiality, as well as obligations protecting the privacy rights of their employees and customers, but should not be given rights to protect their privacy as they cannot possibly have any as merely legal entities. In practice this could be extremely problematic, possibly requiring journalists to delete references to companies in news articles or provide information on their sources of information; requiring internet companies to censor articles revealing corruption or unethical practices; or limiting public bodies from revealing companies that have been investigated for violating laws. As noted above, the UN Human Rights Committee has stated that article “provides for the right of every person” rather than legal entities. The resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 19 December 2016 affirms that “the same rights that people have offline must also be protected online, including the right to privacy".69 More recently, the GDPR has reaffirmed that: The protection afforded by this regulation should apply to natural persons, whatever their nationality or place of residence, in relation to the processing of their personal data. This regulation does not cover the processing of personal data which concerns legal persons and in particular undertakings established as legal persons, including the name and the form of the legal person and the contact details of the legal person.70 Furthermore, the GDPR defines personal data as: Any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (‘data subject’); an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an United Nations Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 16: The right to respect of privacy, family, home and correspondence, and protection of honour and reputation (Art. 17), CCPR/C/GC/16, 4 August 1988. 66 Council of Europe, Modernised Convention for the Protection of Individuals with Regard to the Processing of Personal Data, Amending protocol to the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with Regard to the Processing of Personal Data, adopted by the Committee of Ministers at its 128th Session in Elsinore on 18 May 2018, Art. 11. https://rm.coe.int/convention-108-convention-for-the-protection-ofindividuals-with-regar/16808b36f1. 65 67 EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Art. 3.2. 68 Bahrain Law No. (30) for the year 2018 Issuing the Personal Data Protection Act, Art. 2. 69 The right to privacy in the digital age, G.A. res. 71/199, 19 December 2016, par. 3. 70 GDPR, Recital 14. See also Arts. 1 and 2. ARTICLE 19 – Free Word Centre, 60 Farringdon Rd, London EC1R 3GA – www.article19.org – +44 20 7324 2500 Page 20 of 58