The Government of the Canary Islands, sanctioned for including the “non-binary” sex box in its forms
La Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) has sanctioned the Canary Islands Government for including a box on one of your public forms that included the box “non-binary” sex in addition to those of “man"And"Woman”. The privacy regulator points out that this information should only be collected when it exists “a specific purpose"for which it is necessary to know it,"meaningless otherwise"And"without trying to collect data for the sake of having it".
The resolution further states that “the introduction of the term no binary on the form, when it is not necessary, it can even be counterproductive because it would force people who do not feel like men or women to declare their gender identity.”. This could mean “risks” for natural persons, argues the AEPD, "such as risks of discrimination".
The sanction comes as a result of a claim by an individual against the Ministry of Economy, Knowledge and Employment canary. He protested the fact that on one of his official forms he was presented with the three options in the field “sex/gender". "The claimant considers that through the aforementioned question he is obliged to provide data related to his sexual orientation, and the claimed entity is not authorized to collect said data.”, summarizes the resolution.
The form in question was “Prior conciliation in labor disputes”, which allows workers and employers to reach agreements without resorting to judicial means. “The inclusion of the gender issue brings no value", considers the AEPD, "nor is this aspect examined or considered, so it makes no sense to introduce a response with said scope, without any connection with the object of the same.".
Box for statistical purposes
In his arguments to the resolution of the AEPD, Canary Islands Government claimed that “The information in the 'sex' field has the sole purpose of statistics, so that this (biological) condition of the person can be known, to have greater knowledge that helps implement public gender policies, among other reasons.".
To this, the privacy regulator answers that it must stick to the fields “man/woman". "In accordance with state regulations and their corresponding regional regulations, they do not in any case indicate that for statistical purposes, the procedures or forms that collect data must include the non-binary response.", ditch.
"A form is presented in which, although it does not make explicit reference to sexual orientation or sexual life, it can be deduced that if the answer man/woman is not provided and the non-binary option is checked, it can be considered related to sexual life. , since basically what is being revealed is an issue that could be related to expressing their beliefs since gender identity is an internal issue for each person."argues the AEPD.
Warning
"You are questioning your felt sex, with which you identify, if it matches the one assigned at birth: woman/man, or non-binary, when your felt sex, with which you identify, does not match the one assigned at birth, which goes beyond the objective and purpose of the form", Add.
The sanction to Canarian counseling does not include a financial fine but only a warning, since the Spanish data protection law does not contemplate fines for public administrations. However, it does urge you to review all your forms.”with the aim of removing the 'non-binary' response option in the 'sex' field” within six months.
