Le droit à la suppression d’une inscription dans les registres de baptême

• February 2024

According to an article on the official website of the French public administration, in its ruling of 2 February 2024, the Conseil d’État upheld the decision of the Commission nationale de l’informatique et des libertés (French Data Protection Authority, CNIL), which closed a complaint from a person requesting the opposition and deletion of his personal data contained in the baptism register of a Roman Catholic diocese. The Conseil confirms that none of the grounds for deletion mentioned under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR, Article 17) could apply to the person’s request and that affixing a note in the margin of the baptismal register indicating that the person did not recognise the value of their baptism and has expressed their wish to renounce all ties with the Catholic religion is sufficient to guarantee the right to object (Article 21).