German SPD pushes for right to forget past cancer in contracts

German Social Democratic Party leaders Lars Klingbeil, the party’s vice‑chancellor, and Minister‑President Manuela Schwesig, both cancer survivors, are demanding a legal “right to be forgotten” for people who have overcome cancer. They argue that survivors should no longer be forced to disclose a past diagnosis when applying for insurance, loans, employment or adoption, saying, “It must not be that a survived cancer disease follows a person for life and disadvantages them in contracts.”

The SPD’s proposal would set a statutory period—five years after a medically confirmed cure—after which the disclosure of a former cancer is prohibited. The draft, which references similar regulations in other EU states, is slated for a vote by the SPD executive board on Monday. If adopted, the measure aims to prevent risk‑based premium surcharges, contract refusals and other discriminatory practices tied to a healed illness.