Wednesday, 04 October 2017

The adaptation of Portuguese law to the GDPR – an opportunity for the insurance market.

VolverThis month the Belzuz Abogados S.L.P.- Sucursal em Portugal Insurance Department analysis the legislation approval procedure currently being held regarding several matters that are subject to EU Member-States discretion, pertaining the adaptation of Portuguese law to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The work-group in charge of adjusting the Portuguese legal framework for the application of the GDPR has held a public consultation through the official website www.portugal.gov.pt, identifying seven matters on the proposed adjustment: 1. Special personal data categories processing – genetic, biometric and health related data; 2. Work related processing personal data; 3. Right to data portability; 4. Terms of child consent relating information society services; 5. Right to data erasure; 6. Automated individual decisions, including profiling; 7. Appointment, position and functions of the data protection officer.

Notwithstanding the lesser or greater relevance and impact of the several matters on what concerns the insurance industry, the options that are to be taken on what pertains the special personal data categories processing, the right to data erasure and the automated individual decisions are crucial.

In fact, the insurance industry relays, as much or even more than any other industry, on personal data collection, production, management and transfer, which many times includes, pending on the given insurance type and modality and vicissitudes, sensitive personal data, including health related. And even if the insurance law is particularly sensitive to the subject, being largely determined by information requirements and conditioning the insurance undertaking obligation maturity to the claims causes ascertainment, that does not prevent the frequent problems raised to insurance companies access to sensitive data, which impairs the proper unfolding of the activity and delay the claims processing.

On the other hand, the right to data erasure, if poorly embedded in national legislation, might result in interpretation difficulties and serious constraints to the claims processing post-contract termination.

Finally, in an international context marked by the rapid development of big data driven technological solutions, the unrestrained restriction to automated individual decisions might not only generate relevant disparities between undertakers operation in Portugal and abroad as difficult the use of insurance techniques, large numbers based.

The GDPR will necessarily impact the EU insurance market as a whole, but the Portuguese law-maker and market operators have the responsibility to prevent the adaptation of the Portuguese legislation from generating greater hinders and obstacles, and to guarantee that this process will be used to clarify interpretation doubts and allow the development of the activity in Portugal.

The Belzuz Abogados S.L.P. Insurance Department remains, as always, available to support the insurance undertakers and insurance intermediaries operating in Portugal on monitoring of the applicable legal framework, as well as on the adjustment of and compliance to the new rules on personal data protection.

Insurance Law department | Portugal

 

Belzuz Advogados SLP

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