Information newsletter
Issue 3(15), March 2005

Case of the Month: The Addresses of the Owners of Agricultural Land are Public
Fany Davidova, AIP

The case:
In regard to his intention to farm agricultural land nearby the town Dulgopol, in the Varna district, a citizen looked for information about agricultural estates and their owners. He turned to the Municipal Lands Commission for the names and the phone numbers of people who own the lands in order to reach them. The Commission denied information on the grounds that it was personal data. They said the citizen should be a personal data controller in order to get access to such information.

The citizen asked for the legal procedure for accessing the information, and whether he really was required to register as a personal data controller in order to receive the data?

The comment:
This case sets forth the following questions:

1. What is a “personal data controller”?

2. Is the particular information in the case public and should it be provided?

1. Under Article 3, paragraph 1 of the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA), personal data controller is every person or legal entity, as well as a state institution, which, according to its activity, decides on the type and the volume of the data it processes, as well as the purpose and the methods of data processing and protection. A “data controller” is defined by the the distinctive activities of the entity, rather than by its registration at the Personal Data Protection Commission. This means that not only the bodies which have registered at the Commission, but also anybody who collects and processes personal data in relation to their main activities, are covered bye the law.

Should every entity register as a personal data controller under the provisions of the PDPA in order to collect and process the data? It is important to note that the PDPA is not implemented when personal data are used by a person who is not a controller and uses the data for personal needs. The current case presents a similar situation. Definitely, the citizen is not required to be a registered personal data controller in order to get access to the requested information.

2. There is no doubt that the requested information is public. The information is part of the Public Estate Register, as well as of the Cadastre.

The procedure for accessing the information in this case is found in chapter six of the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA), titled: “Data Provision to Third Parties.” Under Article 35, para. 1, section 1 of the PDPA, the provision of personal data to third parties is possible at their request through the procedure provided in chapter five of the law.

The most important detail in the case is that the data requested, which fall into the definition of personal data under the PDPA, are part of the Public Estate Register as well. Under article 8 of the Law of the Cadastre and the Estate Register, these data are public. Article 30, paragr. 2, section 2 of the Law states that the data of the estate proprietor are public. Article 61, para.1, section 1 of the Law of the Cadastre and the Estate Register provides that the name and the address of the proprietor should be provided at the time of registration. Thus, information about the owners of the property is undoubtedly public. These data are available at the Registration services. In all cases, article 35, paragr. 1, section 2 of the PDPA provides that third parties could request access to personal data, if the information is contained in the public registers. So, if the address of the proprietor is public, the information should be provided with the purpose of correspondence. The phone number, if given with the purpose of correspondence, should be available to the public as well. Thus, the case of the month sets the example of personal data (name of proprietors and description of the property) that are public information at the same time.

Complementary notes to the amendments of the Cadastre and the Public Estate Register:

The amendments to the Law of the Cadastre and the Estate Register stipulate the establishment of a electronic Cadastre and Estate Register. The work would be managed by a special Registrar Agency subject to the Minister of Justice. The Agency would be a legal entity with headquarters in the capital and Registrar offices at the district courts.

The present registrar services would become territorial departments of the Central Agency.

The Agency would guarantee the links between the estate register and other registers; the technological development of the register; the establishment and maintenance of a centralized electronic archive of the estates and all applied documents; the control over the qualification growth of the officials and the revenues from the collected fees and fines. The relation between the cadastre and the estate register would be warranted for the first time in Bulgaria. Such a provision would ensure the legal safety, i.e. the precision of the data, in both registers. (The Cadastre contains information about the characteristics of the estate—locality, boundaries, size, etc.)

Standardized description, as well as a unified blueprint sample, would be adopted. It would end the current practice of incomplete and casual description sets, which has been, to a large extent, a precondition for the legal uncertainty and malpractices in property deals. Data exchange between the Cadastre and the Estate Register would be done through the identification number of the property. The identification number is assigned to each estate property, building and each independent object in the latter. The number is unique and the system represents every estate on the territory of Bulgaria. The number contains the code of the settlement and is given by the Cadastre services.