Parliament on Monday has unanimously approved a bill to introduce the right to be forgotten for persons who recovered from cancer at least five to ten years ago, depending on the case.

The scope behind this legislation is for people who survived cancer to no longer be burdened "by lifelong discrimination because of their past medical history."

The private members' bill was initially put forward by PL MP Amanda Spiteri Grech in September last year. She had said that "it is time for society to recognise the dignity of survivors and ensure they are not penalised for life because of an illness they have already overcome."

On Monday, Parliament unanimously voted in favour of the proposed legislation to be enacted into Maltese law.

Through this law, cancer survivors will benefit from the right to be forgotten and will not be required to declare their past diagnosis for financial services or for employment purposes, if the stipulated time period since they last had treatment has elapsed and if they have not relapsed since.

If an individual was diagnosed with cancer and given treatment before the age of 21, their grace period is five years after the day they ended their treatment.

For those who were diagnosed and treated as adults aged 21 or over, this prescribed period is of 10 years following their end of treatment.

In such cases, these individuals' medical history cannot be requested or acquired other than through the survivor.

In cases when a financial services agreement, such as an insurance contract, banking agreement, or financial agreement, was signed before this period has elapsed, a recovered person's medical history must no longer be considered.

Their medical history must also be erased once their final date of treatment has reached the stipulated period of time; the survivor in question must also be notified in writing about this erasure of data.

According to this law, where difficulties arise, a special review board consisting of two medical professionals with experience and qualifications in the field of oncological diseases, and an experienced lawyer, will handle these disputes.

The members on this board will be appointed by the concerned Minister for three years.