Journalist and protection of personal data before and after its amendment of 2004

The article deals with the limitations of the protection of personal data with regard to the free functioning of the media, particularly taking into consideration the freedom of access to and utilization of, together with the responsibility to safeguard, personal data on the part of journalists on the basis of the act of the 29th of August 1997 on personal data protection -prior to its amendment as well as following its taking force with the amendment of the 1st of May 2004. Numerous doubts were expressed prior to the amendment as to whether allowing jour-nalists the right to information, freedom of speech or criticism, would not allow the removal of entitlement to process all data including personal with the assumption that journalist ac-tivity serves the public interest. On the other hand, many cases of data processing even if for purely commercial aims would not indicate a possibility for a more lenient treatment of 'journalistic processing'. The amendment introduced regulations concerning the processing of personal data by journalists. It appears, however, that it has not totally removed doubts in this area. A journal-ist has become a specific category of data administrator, upon whom only a few of the act's rigors have been imposed. This solution was supposed to have finally regulated this question in accordance with the assumptions adopted in the European Parliament and EU Council Di-rective 95/46 of the 24th of October 1995. The exclusion used by the amendment covers jour-nalist press activities according to the act of the 26th of January 1984 (Press Law) as well as literary and artistic activities. To these are adhered exclusively regulations binding in the safeguarding of data and the statutory control powers of the Chief Inspector for Personal Data Protection which equally has the right to make administrative decisions and examine complaints in matters concerning the carrying out of the regulations on personal data protec-tion. The exclusion used is not absolute - it does not apply in situations in which the right to freedom of speech fundamentally violates the law and the personal freedom that the data concerns. The regulations introduced by the amendment allow for a more precise definition of the rights and obligations of journalists in the area of processing personal data. On the one hand, in the amendment the legislative basis for processing personal data has been confirmed, a wide ranging exemption from the rigors of the act like, for instance, the informational and registration obligation which places journalists in a privileged position has been applied. On the other hand the responsibility to safeguard data, which has been clearly stated, does not allow for any further reversal, something fairly widespread to date, in this area. Violation of the responsibilities foreseen by the regulations on the protection of per-sonal data constitutes a source of administrative liability as equally criminal as well as civil liability on general principles