The Universitat Jaume I contributes to improving public administrations in areas such as access to information, the protection of personal data and the fight against corruption

Teaching staff from eight Spanish universities, coordinated by the Universitat Jaume I in Castelló, have contributed to improving legal certainty in the management of information by public administrations and to reconciling the right to data protection with the duty of transparency and the fight against corruption. They have done so by proposing regulatory improvements after analysing, comparing and identifying legal gaps in the various national and regional regulations governing these matters.

The study of the application of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the public sphere has made it possible to identify the challenges faced by administrations in implementing these fundamental rights, to design training initiatives to convey this knowledge to those working within them, and to improve the public service they provide to citizens. In addition, the team has provided regulatory tools to ensure compatibility between guaranteeing access to public information and protecting personal data.

In the opinion of the research team, “by ensuring that data protection is not used as a pretext to restrict transparency, access to information of general interest has been strengthened, enabling society to participate more actively in public affairs”. They also highlight as one of the most significant contributions in the field of data protection “the identification of mechanisms to strengthen the protection of individuals who report corruption”.

The impact of the project “Reconciling the right to data protection with compliance by public authorities with the duty of transparency and the fight against corruption (DATATRANSCO)”, funded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, has extended beyond the public administration and legal sectors to others such as technology and artificial intelligence. The research team has incorporated into its analysis and comparison the European Artificial Intelligence Regulation (AI Act), adopted in 2024, which includes requirements regarding transparency and explainability (understanding how an algorithm works).

“The strengthening of legal certainty in the management of personal data in the public sphere has enhanced administrative efficiency and reduced legal risks for administrations, while at the same time improving access to public information and data protection”, the research team explains. They also state that “in the field of artificial intelligence, the analysis of the new European regulation has made it possible to formulate recommendations to ensure the ethical and responsible use of these technologies and to prevent them from generating inequalities or discrimination”.

Throughout the project, the teaching and research staff have carried out knowledge transfer activities aimed at public bodies, such as local councils and international companies associated with the European Commission, which has relied on the team’s support in drafting regulations and strategies on data protection, transparency, corruption prevention and the fight against fraud. The team has also fostered debate on these issues at national and international conferences in which they have participated, and has addressed more specific topics such as proactive disclosure during elections, transparency in public and private universities, and the potential discriminatory effects of algorithms.

In addition, collaborations have been established with research groups at other universities, such as the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the University of Vigo and the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid; the European project RightsEU, which examines social rights in 21st-century employment; the TRUST project led by the Gregorio Peces-Barba Human Rights Institute; and the Chairs in Identity and Digital Rights of the Integra Foundation and the University of Murcia, as well as the Chair in Privacy and Digital Transformation of Microsoft and the University of Valencia.

At national and European institutional level, participation has also included the Directorate for Transparency and Data Protection of Andalusia, the Council for Transparency and Good Governance, the LIBE Committee of the European Parliament, and the universities Roma Tre and Vrije in Brussels.

The research, coordinated in its initial phase by Professors Rosario García Mahamut and Beatriz Tomás Mallén, both members of the Data Protection and Fundamental Rights Research Group (PRODADEF) at the Universitat Jaume I, and subsequently by Beatriz Tomás Mallén and Mónica Arenas Ramiro of the University of Alcalá, following Professor García Mahamut’s appointment as Director of the Centre for Political and Constitutional Studies, has also involved other members of the PRODADEF group, including Cristina Pauner Chulvi, Jorge Viguri Cordero and Jaime Clemente Martínez, as well as staff from the universities of Alcalá de Henares, València, Elche, Vigo, UNED, Pablo de Olavide in Seville and the Open University of Catalonia.

Project PID2021-128309NB-I00 has been funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and ERDF/EU under the State Plan for Scientific, Technical and Innovation Research 2021–2023, aimed at promoting strategic sectors for recovery, such as health, the ecological transition and digitalisation.

Articles and books published as part of the project are available at: https://repositori.uji.es/search?query=PID2021-128309NB-I00&spc.page=1&spc.rpp=20. In addition, the collective volume entitled Transparencia y lucha contra la corrupción en la era algorítmica, edited by Rosario García Mahamut, Beatriz Tomás Mallén and Mónica Arenas Ramiro, with Jorge Viguri Cordero as coordinating editor, to be published by Tirant lo Blanch in 2025, will shortly be released in open access.