By Wendy Anders

Last month, the Costa Rican Agency on Personal Data Protection (Prodhab) passed a resolution reaffirming the Costa Rican Treasury Department’s right to access individual’s personal data, including name, home address, phone number, email, telecommunications plans, among other information.

Mauricio Garro, director of Prodhab, on the agency’s Facebook page clarified that the Treasury would only be able to access individual personal data for tax collection purposes.

Garro said that the Treasury would not have access to any “sensitive” information such as people’s political preferences, religious affiliation, sexual identity, or biometric or genetic information.

When weighing the right to privacy over the need for information by the state, Garro said that his agency felt the state’s needs were preponderant in this case. Prodhab is clear about protecting data provided to the Treasury, said Garro, which he said would not be permitted to be sold or transfered to other parties or agencies.

“The information must be managed by strict security protocols and in theory should be handled with absolute confidentiality. It can only be used for tax collection,” added Garro, in an interview with El Diario Extra, Costa Rica’s daily tabloid.

The resolution is intended to clarify the Treasury’s right to access personal data that was granted last year, and which was subsequently unsuccessfully challenged by the private telecommunications company, Millicom Cable, in the Costa Rican court system, reported El Extra.