Tag: One-Stop Shop

CJEU Advocate General’s opinion on GDPR’s One-Stop-Shop mechanism

26. January 2021

On January 13, 2021, the Advocate General (“AG”) of the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) published an opinion in the case of Facebook Ireland Limited, Facebook INC, Facebook Belgium BVBA v the Belgian Data Protection Authority “Gegevensbeschermingsautoriteit” (“Belgian DPA”), addressing the General Data Protection Regulation’s (“GDPR”) One-Stop-Shop mechanism.

In 2015, the Belgian DPA initiated several legal proceedings against Facebook Group members in local courts. The allegation was that Facebook placed cookies on devices of Belgian users without their consent, thereby collecting data in an excessive manner. Facebook argued that with the GDPR becoming applicable in 2018, the Belgian DPA lost its competence to continue the legal proceedings, as Facebook’s lead supervisory authority under the GDPR is the Irish Data Protection Commission. The Belgian Court of Appeal referred several questions to the CJEU, including whether the GDPR’s One-Stop-Shop regime prevented national DPA’s from initiating proceedings in the national courts when it is not the lead DPA.

The AG responded that, in his opinion, the lead DPA has the general jurisdiction over cross-border data processing, while a national DPA may exceptionally bring proceedings before its own national courts. The national DPA’s right is subject to the One-Stop-Shop regime and cooperation and consistency mechanism of the GDPR. Thus, each national DPA has the competence to initiate proceedings against possible infringements affecting its territory, the significant regulatory role of the lead DPA limits this competence with respect to cross-border data processing.

One of the concerns expressed by the Belgian DPA was the risk of insufficient enforcement if only lead DPA’s may act against organizations that do not comply with the GDPR. In this regard, the GA emphasizes that Art. 61 GDPR specifically provides for appropriate mechanisms to address such concerns. National DPA’s have the possibility to ask the lead DPA for assistance in investigations, and if such assistance is not provided, the national DPA concerned may take action itself.

In certain circumstances, the AG sees the possibility for national DPAs not acting as lead DPA to initiate proceedings before their national court, if

  • the DPA is acting outside of the material scope of the GDPR; e.g., because the processing does not involve personal data;
  • cross-border data processing is carried out by public authorities, in the public interest, or to comply with legal obligations;
  • the processor is not established in the EU;
  • there is an urgent need to act to protect the rights and freedoms of data subjects (Art. 66 GDPR);
  • the lead DPA has decided not to process a case.

With regards to data subjects, the AG notes that data subjects can bring action against any controller or processor before the court of their Member State and may file a complaint with their Member State’s DPA, regardless of which Member State’s DPA is the lead DPA.

The AG’s opinion is not legally binding on the CJEU, although the CJEU will take it into account. A final judgment of the CJEU is expected in the coming months. Thereafter, the Belgian Court of Appeal will have to decide its case in accordance with the CJEU’s judgment. The CJEU’s decision will most likely have a lasting impact on the division of roles between lead DPAs and other national DPAs, as well as on the ability of national DPAs to take enforcement actions into their own hands.

Article 29 Working Party released Guidelines on Data Protection Officers, Data Portability & One-Stop Shop

19. December 2016

The European Article 29 Working Party just published Guidelines after their December plenary meeting.

These Guidelines include explanations in terms of the role of the Data Protection Officer, the mechanisms for data portability and how a lead authority will be established with regard to the one-stop shop. Furthermore, some guidance on the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield was also included.

When do you have to appoint a DPO?

Article 37 (1) of the GDPR states that a DPO has to be appointed

a) where the processing is carried out by a public authority or body

b) where the core activities of the controller or the processor consist of processing operations that require regular and systematic monitoring of data subjects on a large scale

or c) where the core activities of the controller or the processor consist of processing on a large scale of special categories of data.

How does the Article 29 Working Party define these requirements?

“Core activities” are defined as the “key operations necessary to achieve the controller’s or processor’s goals.” The Article 29 Working Party gives the following example: a hospital needs to process health data as core to its ultimate activity of providing health care services.

Therefore, companies have to ask themselves whether the processing of personal data is a inextricably part for archiving their goals.

 

“Large scale” refers to the number of data subjects and not the company’s size.

The Working Party 29 defines the following identification aspects for a “large scale”:

  • The number of data subjects affected.
  • The volume of data and/or the range of different data items being processed.
  • The duration, or permanence, of the data processing activity.
  • The geographical extent of the processing activity.

However, the Working Party 29 welcomes feedback on the Guidelines from stakeholders through January 2017. Comments can be sent to just-article29wp-sec@ec.europa.eu and presidenceg29@cnil.fr.