Credit reference agencies, the notions of 'purpose and compatible use' and the EU Directive 46/95

Abstract

Personal data are a Notary's stock-in-trade. Births, marriages, wills, deaths and property transactions are events, which are recorded using a system based on the persons concerned. In Malta, this is even more so, with a property-based Land Registry Jagging behind the development in the person-based Public Registry. The scope of the Public Registry is precisely that of providing a notarisation function: a trusted, indeed publicly constituted, third party whose main function is to record events and transactions which may have an impact on claims to property. The Public Registry however does not fulfil all the personal data requirements of the business sector. When somebody in commerce is weighing a risk, in particular whether or not to sell a product or service on credit, the data recorded and available at the Public Registry is not much use for many day-to-day transactions involving moveable property. This is why, after having practised as a Notary Public for the past fifteen years, I ended up getting involved in the credit reference business. In retrospect the process was a natural one: clients were interested in efficient mechanisms for debt-collection but for this to be carried out in a costeffective manner it is best to have an accurate picture of the assets and liabilities of the debtor concerned. This requirement also prompted a number of business concerns to think that prevention is better than cure: it appeared sensible to have the information about assets and liabilities before taking the risk, before making a transaction and granting credit.