Balancing disclosure of information and the right to respect for private life in Europe

uch of the information held by governments at the domestic level is comprised of material, some of it sensitive, that in some way relates to indi-viduals: Government databases in areas such as healthcare, social security, and employment details of public servants are some examples that spring to mind. Governments also hold data relating to individuals who interact with government departments and agencies in a range of capacities, such as those of customer, client, consultant, expert advisor, lobbyist, agency board mem-ber, property vendor, or purchaser. While information held at the supranational level is less likely to include large-scale databases of sensitive information relating to individual citizens, it, too, encompasses data col-lections that pertain to individuals. Examples include employment records, details of consultants and of expert advisors, lobbyists, and agency board members. regulatory functions can also result in the collection of personal information about individuals, for example, their performance of functions in the area of customs, border protection, prevention of communicable dis-eases, and transport safety. Standards have developed at both the domestic and international levels for the protection of privacy of personal information. At the same time, there is a movement towards the disclosure of officially held information as a result of the introduction of access to information laws or through the operation of laws with such aims as facilitating accountability in respect to public expenditure. Reconciling the right of access to information with the right to privacy is a problem common to all jurisdictions. The focus of this article is on examining how the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has approached the protection of the right to privacy in the context of the operation of European Union (EU) information-access measures. This article first provides a sketch of the European legal framework for the protection of personal infor-mation and for the provision of access to information at the supra national level. The article then focuses on the approach taken by the CJEU in cases concern-ing requests for access to information, the disclosure of which has implications for the enjoyment of the right to privacy of third parties.