ICIC

Person v. Ministry of Urban Development and Transport

City of Buenos Aires, 2019

Authority:
Órgano Garante de Acceso a la Información Pública


Country/State:  

City of Buenos Aires

Case title:  
Person v. Ministry of Urban Development and Transport
    
Official citation:
RESOL-2019-94-GCABA-OGDAI

Date of decision:    
04/24/2019
        
Relevant law:
Act 104

Decision:  
The Ministry of Urban Development and Transport was considered to have responded adequately to the request during the proceedings before OGDAI.

Key words:    
access to information – right to privacy – personal information – license plates

Case Summary:
1.    Facts

A person required information about cars subjected to vehicle inspection in 2018, in particular, how many of them passed it, failed it or were temporarily denied authorization, together with their license plate, brand, model and the reason for rejection when applicable. The Ministry of Urban Development and Transport complied with the first part of the request, explaining its impossibility to hand in the rest of the information because it was confidential. Thus, the petitioner complained before OGDAI. During OGDAI´s proceedings, the Ministry provided the complainant with everything he required but information concerning license plates.

2.    Decision

The Ministry of Urban Development and Transport was considered to have responded adequately to the request during the proceedings before OGDAI.

Note (Optional):
 
OGDAI attempted to distinguish public information from personal information and insisted on such line being drawn on a case by case basis. As regards license plates, OGDAI explained that they could be linked to the owners of the cars and that since cars were part of people’s private property, it was necessary to safeguard every piece of information concerning them, mainly because the people involved were not public officials who, as such, have to tolerate a higher degree of invasion into their private lives. OGDAI also highlighted that since the information required related to a large group of people, an authorization from the Direction of Personal Information Protection of the Ombudsman Office (Dirección de Protección de Datos Personales de la Defensoría del Pueblo) should have been needed in order to transfer the data. 

Resource:
https://www.buenosaires.gob.ar/sites/gcaba/files/resol-2019-94-gcaba-ogdai.pdf