Abstract

Freedom of expression is one of the key foundations of a democratic society. However, this freedom is not absolute and is limited by other rights and freedoms, including the right to privacy or the right to protection of personal data.
The article analyses inevitability of a conflict between the indicated rights and freedoms, but also the need to reconcile these freedoms and rights to enable their coexistence, in the context of a special case, namely that of digital press archives. It is in this area that the conflict is very clearly discernible, taking into account, in particular, the regulation of personal data protection and press law, the perspective of fundamental rights, and especially the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. Indeed, the prevailing view in the ECHR case law is that digital press archives, despite the fact that they exhibit functional peculiarities, should be treated as part of the press. Consequently, they are covered by the protection provided for by Art. 10 of the ECHR and Art. 11 of the CFR, as well as Art. 14 and 54 of the Polish Constitution . The functions of digital archives, although partly different from the traditional press, are an important part of the ecosystem of access to information, a key element of the freedom of expression.
Protection afforded to digital archives is not absolute, and the functions they perform, particularly information functions related to their specific capability to store and transmit information, may cause a clash primarily with the right to respect for private life and protection of personal data. For these reasons, it is crucial to apply the criteria developed in the Court’s jurisprudence for examining whether interference with one of the conflicting rights was necessary in accordance with Art. 10 § 2 of the CFR.
These criteria should be applied to the interpretation of the press clause adopted in Art. 2 of the Data Protection Act on the basis of competence provided for in Art. 85 of the GDPR.