EU Publishes Guidelines On The Right To Be Forgotten

On 26 November 2014 the Article 29 Data Protection Working Party published guidelines on the implementation of the right to be forgotten decision from the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Working Party document 225 provides guidance on the definition of search engines as data controllers under EU law and the rights of individuals to request search engines to de-list web pages where the right of data protection of an individual is felt to be infringed.

The guidelines also clarify that the right to be forgotten is not exhaustive and that a balance has to be made between the rights of the data subject as well as the interest of the public in having access to particular information that the individual wishes "to be forgotten".