In the field of personal data on creditworthiness and financial solvency and its filing in what is, commonly known as the “registro de morosos”, the Spanish Supreme Court has handed down a ruling on the litigation between a security services company and some individuals affected by the inclusion of their personal information on the registry where credit history and financial solvency data are filed. The Court ruled that such inclusion, in order to be considered legitimate and not to infringe the accusing party’s rights to honour, should comply with Spanish legislation and, in particular, with Organic Law 15/1999, 13th December, on Protection of Personal Data, and the provisions contained in its implementing regulations. Fundamentally, it indicates that personal data filed with the registry must be true and exact, as well as decisive in judging the economic solvency of the interested parties.

The Supreme Court, basing its arguments on its jurisprudence, establishes that companies may not use the threat of being filed in the financial solvency registry as means of coercion to claim back possible debts, taking advantage of people’s fear of personal discredit and the difficulty of accessing formal credit once one’s name is filed in the registry.

Likewise, the input of people’s information into the registry must respect European regulations on personal data. This fundamental right is contained in article 8 of the European Union’s Charter of Fundamental Rights and Directive 1995/46/EC, 24th October, by the European Parliament and the European Union Council. This set of EC regulations broke new ground when enacted and laid the foundations for the configuration of a system guaranteeing protection of personal data in all the different domestic legislations of the European Union member states.