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De Hert, Paul --- "Courts, privacy and data protection in Belgium: Fundamental rights that might as well be struck from the Constitution" [2017] ELECD 674; in Brkan, Maja; Psychogiopoulou, Evangelia (eds), "Courts, Privacy and Data Protection in the Digital Environment" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017) 63

Book Title: Courts, Privacy and Data Protection in the Digital Environment

Editor(s): Brkan, Maja; Psychogiopoulou, Evangelia

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781784718701

Section: Chapter 4

Section Title: Courts, privacy and data protection in Belgium: Fundamental rights that might as well be struck from the Constitution

Author(s): De Hert, Paul

Number of pages: 19

Abstract/Description:

This contribution focuses on the use made by the Belgian Constitutional Court and the Cour de Cassation of the right to privacy and the right to have data protected as anchored in the Belgian Constitution, the Belgian Data Protection Act and the European sources. The judgments are discussed along the lines of their impact on health privacy, workplace privacy, surveillance and social media privacy. Our analysis shows a great deal of European loyalty on behalf of the Belgian Constitutional Court towards European messages about these issues and privacy and data protection in general. In stark contrast stands the case law of the Cour de Cassation mainly focused on preserving prosecutorial interests and the employer’s interest to the detriment of privacy and data protection interests. Keywords: Constitutional Court, Court of Cassation, health privacy, workplace privacy, surveillance, social media privacy.