Ordem dos Psicólogos

OPP Bulletin

20.November.2012

Following the publication of the story “OPP under investigation for violating personal data”, in today's Diário de Notícias newspaper, in page 2 and cover story, the Ordem dos Psicólogos Portugueses clarifies:

After receiving a complaint, the National Comité for Data Protection, came in fact to the OPP's headquarter, with a warrant to verify it's computer system and data management.

The confidentiality of personal data is scrupulously protected by the OPP's ethics code. The Ordem dos Psicólogos Portugueses meets every legal and internal regulation regarding confidentiality and management of personal data, firmly and in detail.

The OPP is baffled with the feature Diário de Notícias (DN) made regarding a defamatory and slanderous complaint of a single citizen, never before the newspaper showed any interest or attention for news on psychologists and the services that psychology provides to millions of portuguese.

The OPP questions the editorial discretion of DN, in which the mental health of portuguese people does not have the same prominance than, for instance, an applicant rejected among tens of files and hundreds of other applicants.

So, and considering the arguments presented, the OPP asks: is DN willing to give the same prominance to other applicants rejected by public institutions? Is the newspaper willing to give the same space to the conflicting side of the story? And, last but not least, witch is the criterion and purpose of DN in releasing such stories curiously enough on the same week that the House discusses the bill on professional associations?