Data protection in Greece

The rapid growth of new forms of information leads to the constitutional consolidation of the ‘right to information’. The revised Constitution of Greece (2001) has implemented Ar.5(a) ,which specifies that: ‘anyone’ has the right to ‘information’ as the ‘law defines’. In the same article there are cited the limitations of that right. Moreover Ar.9(a) of the Constitution reads:
‘Everyone has the right of protection from the collection, processing and use, mostly by electronical means, of his personal data, as the law defines. The protection of personal data is secured from an independent public authority, which functions as the law defines’.
For the harmonisation of the European Directive 95/46 with the Greek law the Statute of 2472/97 came into force. Hence, when the constitution reads ‘as law defines’, it refers to the abovementioned Statute. Moreover, with the scope of the protection of this constitutional right an independent authority was born, which is called ‘HELLENIC DATA PROTECTION AUTHORITY’. By enclosing everything into one concept, one could point out that the existing Greek legislation follows the path of the European one.