Code Section

1798.105.  

Consumers’ Right to Delete Personal Information

(a) A consumer shall have the right to request that a business delete any personal information about the consumer which the business has collected from the consumer.

(b) A business that collects personal information about consumers shall disclose, pursuant to Section 1798.130, the consumer’s rights to request the deletion of the consumer’s personal information.

(c) (1) A business that receives a verifiable consumer request from a consumer to delete the consumer’s personal information pursuant to subdivision (a) of this section shall delete the consumer’s personal information from its records, notify any service providers or contractors to delete the consumer’s personal information from their records, and notify all third parties to whom the business has sold or shared the personal information to delete the consumer’s personal information unless this proves impossible or involves disproportionate effort.

(2) The business may maintain a confidential record of deletion requests solely for the purpose of preventing the personal information of a consumer who has submitted a deletion request from being sold, for compliance with laws or for other purposes, solely to the extent permissible under this title.

(3) A service provider or contractor shall cooperate with the business in responding to a verifiable consumer request, and at the direction of the business, shall delete, or enable the business to delete and shall notify any of its own service providers or contractors to delete personal information about the consumer collected, used, processed, or retained by the service provider or the contractor. The service provider or contractor shall notify any service providers, contractors, or third parties who may have accessed personal information from or through the service provider or contractor, unless the information was accessed at the direction of the business, to delete the consumer’s personal information unless this proves impossible or involves disproportionate effort. A service provider or contractor shall not be required to comply with a deletion request submitted by the consumer directly to the service provider or contractor to the extent that the service provider or contractor has collected, used, processed, or retained the consumer’s personal information in its role as a service provider or contractor to the business.

(d) A business, or a service provider or contractor acting pursuant to its contract with the business, another service provider, or another contractor, shall not be required to comply with a consumer’s request to delete the consumer’s personal information if it is reasonably necessary for the business, service provider, or contractor to maintain the consumer’s personal information in order to:

(1) Complete the transaction for which the personal information was collected, fulfill the terms of a written warranty or product recall conducted in accordance with federal law, provide a good or service requested by the consumer, or reasonably anticipated by the consumer within the context of a business’ ongoing business relationship with the consumer, or otherwise perform a contract between the business and the consumer.

(2) Help to ensure security and integrity to the extent the use of the consumer’s personal information is reasonably necessary and proportionate for those purposes.

(3) Debug to identify and repair errors that impair existing intended functionality.

(4) Exercise free speech, ensure the right of another consumer to exercise that consumer’s right of free speech, or exercise another right provided for by law.

(5) Comply with the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act pursuant to Chapter 3.6 (commencing with Section 1546) of Title 12 of Part 2 of the Penal Code.

(6) Engage in public or peer-reviewed scientific, historical, or statistical research that conforms or adheres to all other applicable ethics and privacy laws, when the business’ deletion of the information is likely to render impossible or seriously impair the ability to complete such research, if the consumer has provided informed consent.

(7) To enable solely internal uses that are reasonably aligned with the expectations of the consumer based on the consumer’s relationship with the business and compatible with the context in which the consumer provided the information.

(8) Comply with a legal obligation.