Spanish Socialist Group calls on the right to be forgotten

On 10 February, the Spanish Socialist Parliamentary Group tabled a non-law proposal on the right to be forgotten for cancer survivors. The explanatory statement of the non-law proposal refers to both the Beating Cancer Plan and the Consumer Credit Directive. It is argued that considering that the Spanish National Health System cancer strategy was updated following the Beating Cancer Plan (BCP), an account must be taken when it comes to the mention from the BCP of the inclusion of improvement of quality of life of survivors.

 

To this day, Spain does not have a legislation on the Right to be Forgotten for cancer survivors but when it comes to persons with HIV/AIDS, there is a law that forbids discrimination in recruitment and ”imposition of more onerous conditions”. This non-law proposal aims extend the principles of this law to other pathologies such as cancer. 

As regard next steps, group coordinators still need to agree on when to include this item in the Plenary’s agenda – they can also decide not to do it. If approved, the text will be debated directly in the Plenary, which showcases the urgency of the file, given that normally these types of initiatives are tabled to the responsible Committee first.