Application of Legal Instruments of Protection in the Field of Personal Data – Human Rights between Challenges and Limits Mădălina Botină 1 , Marilena Marin 2 1 Assoc. Prof. PhD, Faculty of Law and Administrative Sciences, Ovidius University of Constanța, Romania madalinabotina@yahoo.com; 2 Assoc. Prof. PhD, Faculty of Law and Administrative Sciences, Ovidius University of Constanța, Romania marilenamarin@yahoo.com ABSTRACT: This paper proposes the analysis of a situation that may arise in the matter of personal data, when we talk about the protection of such data, as well as about the applicable legislation, referring to those legal instruments for the protection of personal data. Since the implementation of the legal texts also implies the confrontation with the reality or with the factual situation, the working hypothesis we propose is that of the limitations that appear regarding the exercise of what we generically call “human rights”. These limitations and the way in which the legislation has the capacity to deal in particular with respect for human rights, are challenges that we will analyze in our paper. As a working method, we chose qualitative analysis, observation and comparison, using various types of normative acts applicable in European countries. As a subject of analysis, I preferred the legislation within the European Union, as well as the Romanian legislation. KEYWORDS: human rights, personal data, sensitive data, regulation, directive, legal instruments 1. Introductory aspects regarding the legal instruments of personal data protection The right to privacy is a fundamental right, which was regulated for the first time in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UN General Assembly 1948, Art. 12). Although not binding, the Declaration is a reference document, which was the basis for the adoption of treaties and laws on the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms (Stelejan-Guțan 2018, 7). Going further, throughout history, the European Convention on Human Rights was adopted by the Council of Europe (1950). Within this normative act, at art. 8 regulates the right to private and family life, developing to a certain extent the provisions of the Declaration. Starting from the jurisprudence of the European Court, "the right to privacy is the right to privacy". The notion of private life includes elements that relate to a person's identity, such as his name, photograph, physical and moral integrity (Stelejan-Guțan 2018, 166-167). The European Court has defined the scope of art. 8 in a broad sense, by inserting some rights that are not expressly provided in the law (Erimia 2016, 456). This makes the processing of personal data an interference within the meaning of art. 8 of the Convention. 2. How to regulate and understand the phrase "protection of personal data" 2.1. General Data Protection Regulation at EU level The right to privacy is a fundamental right, which was regulated for the first time in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UN General Assembly 1948, Art. 12). Although not binding, the Declaration is a reference document, which was the basis for the adoption of treaties and laws on the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms (Stelejan-Guțan 2018, 7). Going further, throughout history, the European Convention on Human Rights was adopted by the Council of Europe, in 1950 (Rotaru 2014, 256). Within this normative act, at art. 8 regulates the right to private and family life, developing to a certain extent the provisions of the Declaration.