Electronic registries and digital services in the field of family relations: problems of protecting the personal data of children and parents

The article is devoted to the problems of protecting the personal data of children and parents when using electronic registers and digital services. It is noted that the issue of determining the limits of the exercise of parental rights regarding the personal data of a child is problematic. On the one hand, parents are obliged to protect the interests of their children and exercise control over the use of their data in various services; on the other hand, excessive parental control or dissemination of information about a child without their consent may contradict the principle of respect for privacy. It has been established that the current legislation of Ukraine, in particular the Law “On the Protection of Personal Data”, does not contain separate provisions that would comprehensively regulate the processing of information about children. The absence of special norms regarding the consent of minors and the procedure for its provision by parents creates conflicts between the norms of civil, family and information law. As a result, in practice, situations arise when parents do not have sufficient control over the dissemination of information about a child in electronic systems, or vice versa - the state restricts access to information, referring to the confidentiality regime. It was concluded that the issue of delimiting access to family information between parents who are in conflict or divorced is no less problematic. In judicial practice, there are cases when one parent applies for electronic extracts from the child’s registers without the knowledge of the other, which raises doubts about compliance with the principle of good faith processing of personal data. This situation indicates the need to develop special procedures for parents’ access to information about children contained in state electronic systems, taking into account court decisions or guardianship and trusteeship bodies. Therefore, the child’s right to privacy cannot be absolute, but its implementation must take into account the best interests of the child, including age characteristics, the nature and volume of the data processed. At the same time, parents have a legal basis for access to information about their children in digital registers if this contributes to the fulfillment of their parental duties. It is precisely the establishment of clear boundaries and mechanisms for such access that is an important part of improving the civil legal protection of personal data in the context of family digital legal relations.