On 28 March 2023, Spain’s Congress of Deputies approved a non-law proposal on the right to be forgotten for cancer survivors, calling on the government to develop the necessary rules to extend existing principles on data protection to pathologies such as cancer. Legislation already exists for patients of HIV but members of Congress believe this should be extended to additional diseases. Initially put forward by the Socialist Group, the proposal received the support of all parties at the Committee on Health and Consumer Affairs of the Congress.
The text also referenced the European Parliament’s resolution of 16 February 2022 asking member states to adopt a law on the right to be forgotten for cancer survivors by 2025. This law should guarantee the right to be forgotten for all European survivors ten years after the end of their treatment and no later than five years after the end of treatment for patients whose diagnosis occurred before the age of eighteen.
Members of Congress insisted on the importance of the issue and demanded that the government guarantee the right to be forgotten for cancer survivors.
This is yet another step in the right direction towards improving the lives of Spanish cancer survivors but remains insufficient as the Spanish Congress put forward a non-law proposal which therefore has no legal enforcement.
