Category: GDPR

EU Commission highlights necessary preparations for end of Brexit transitioning period

14. July 2020

The European Commission has published a communication on July 9th, 2020, in order to highlight the main areas of change in view of the upcoming end of the transitional Brexit period before January 1st, 2021.

The communication aims to facilitate readiness and preparations for citizens, businesses and stockholders once the UK leaves the European Union. The European Commission states that readiness for these broad and far reaching changes is key, especially since they will take place regardless of the outcome of the negotiations between the UK and the EU.

The communication breaches subjects such as trade in goods, trade in services, energy, travelling and tourism, mobility and social security coordination, company law and civil law, intellectual property, data transfers and protection and international agreements of the EU.

The communication also includes advice in each of those areas and subjects for businesses to be able to start preparations in order to cope with the changes ahead.

With a view on data protection, the European Commission’s communication states that data transfers can continue after January 1st, 2021, however they will have to comply with EU rules and regulations for Third Country Transfers as put forth by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The Commission specifies the tools set out in Chapter V of the GDPR, which include Binding Corporate Rules, Standard Contractual Clauses, as well as an Adequacy Decision by the European Commission. The communication states that the EU will try its best to conclude the assessment of the UK regime by the end of 2020, in order to give at least some form of security for data transfers after the transitional period ends. On sides of the United Kingdom, the Adequacy of the European union is guaranteed until 2024.

The advice of the European Commission emphasizes compliancy with the GDPR as the best preparation for the Brexit, but lacks security as to what will happen on January 1st, 2021, especially with regards to the future applicable laws.

Transatlantic Data Transfers in light of the Two Year Anniversary of GDPR Application

7. July 2020

In the last two years since the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into effect on May 25, 2018, it has received an overall positive feedback and structured the data protection culture not only in the European Union, but has set an example for international privacy standards.

However, especially from the American side of the world, criticism has been constant. Different principles are a prerequisite for different opinions and priorities, and the effort to bring European data protection standards and American personal data business together has been a challenge on both sides.

One of the main criticisms coming from the US government is the increasing obstacles the GDPR poses in case of cybercrime investigations and law enforcement. Not only the restrictive implications of the GDPR are an issue, but also the divergent interpretations due to national adaptations of the GDPR are seen as a problem by government officials.

In the cases of cybercrime, the main issue for the US critics is the now less effective database of domain name owners, WHOIS. The online directory, which was created in the 1970s, is an important tool for law enforcement combatting cybercrime. Before the GDPR came into effect in 2018, the request for information on domain owners was straightforward. Now, due to the restrictions of the GDPR, this process has been made long and tedious.

But fighting cybercrime is not the only tension between the EU and the USA concerning data protection. In a judgement in the Schrems II case, expected for July 16, 2020, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) is expected to take a stance on transatlantic data transfers and the current Privacy Shield, which is the basis for the EU-US dataflows under adequate data protection standards. If the Privacy Shield is deemed insufficient protection, it will have a major effect on EU-US business transactions.

However, these are issues that the European Commission (EC) is very aware of. In their communication concerning the two-year review of the GDPR, the Commission stated that they are planning to balance out diverging and fragmented interpretations of the GDPR on national levels and find a common data protection culture within Europe.

In addition, the restrictions the GDPR poses to law enforcement are another point the European Commission knows it needs to fix. The plan for the future is a bilateral and multilateral framework that can allow for simple requests to share data for law enforcement purposes and avoid conflicts of law, while keeping data protection safeguards intact.

The upcoming judgement of the ECJ is seen with watchful eyes by the Commission, and will be incorporated in their upcoming adequacy decisions and re-evaluations, as well as their development of a modern international transfer toolbox, which includes a modernized version of the standard contractual clauses.

Overall, the two-year mark of the existence of the GDPR is seen more as a success, despite the clear areas for future improvement. One of the big challenges in transatlantic data transfers ahead is without a doubt the outcome of the judgement in the Schrems case in mid-July, the implications of which are, at this point in time, not yet able to be defined.

Regional Court of Vienna judges in Schrems against Facebook case

6. July 2020

On June 30th, 2020, the Vienna Regional Court passed judgement in the case of Max Schrems against Facebook Ireland Limited, in the case number 3 Cg 52/14k-91 (in German). In the following, we will be presenting the case and the court’s judgement.

Facts of the case

In the years 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2019, the plaintiff submitted requests for information in accordance with Art. 15 GDPR. The defendant initially responded to these requests with an 18-page pdf file dated 09.06.2011 and a CD with further pdf files of 1,222 A4 pages. Despite the information provided, the plaintiff felt that his rights as stated by the GDPR had been violated, as none of the consecutive requests had been answered. From his point of view, the information provided was neither sufficient in terms of content nor was the number of responses in relation to the number of requests made sufficient for him.

Furthermore, the plaintiff was concerned by the data processing by third parties, about which he received no clear information. He also stated that he was “Controller” in the sense of the GDPR. The defendant had not fulfilled the resulting requirements, as Data Processor, of concluding a Data Processing Agreement with the plaintiff. Finally, the defendant had violated Art. 9 GDPR by failing to obtain consent in respect of his interests and further sensitive data, for which the plaintiff demanded injunction for future data processing.

Guiding principles of the judgement

The Regional Court judged on the following guiding principles in the case:

  • the defendant must provide the plaintiff with complete information in writing and free of charge within fourteen days about all personal data of the plaintiff processed by it, stating the exact origin and, if applicable, the exact recipients of the data,
  • and pay the applicant the sum of EUR 500 in damages within fourteen days.

Reason for decision

The regional court’s guiding principles on the case were the only points in the plaintiff’s claim in which they judged in his favour. The court has stated that the tools used and information given by the defendant to inform the plaintiff about the processed personal data is not enough to meet the requirements of Art. 15 GDPR’s right of access. This results in a lack of control of the plaintiff over his own personal data, which goes against his fundamental right to data privacy. Therefore, the court has ruled damages in the sum of EUR 500 as adequate compensation for the infringement of Mr. Schrems’ privacy.

Regarding Mr. Schrems’ other points, the court ruled that because the plaintiff uses the Facebook platform in light of private/family activities, he cannot be a Controller of the processed personal data due to the fact that according to Art. 2 II lit.c GDPR, the regulation does not apply to him. This also applies to social media and online networks, as mentioned in Recital 18. Therefore, Facebook is not a Data Processor in the terms of those private activities and purposes, which negates the requirement of a Data Processing Agreement according to Art 28 GDPR.

Further, the court sees no sensitive data in the lines of Art. 9 GDPR to be at risk. In light of the personalisation of the platform, such as personalized ads and suggestions, the court stated that this belongs to the core of the defendant’s business activities. As such, there is no consent needed, as the defendant states that the processing of the data is for the purpose of a contract. The plaintiff, according to the court, has entered into such a contract knowing of the terms of service and on his own behalf in order to use the platform’s services. An injunction regarding the future processing of such personal data is therefore not to be applied.

Assessment

Overall, the Regional Court’s judgement has only a minimal practical relevance, as it is hard to fully assess the consequences of the passed judgement. One can neither say how the conduct will affect the future management of the company, nor is it certain whether the judgement will even become final in the first place. However, the plaintiff has already announced on NOYB’s homepage that he will lodge an appeal, and it therefore will remain to be seen what practical relevance can be drawn from the case in the future.

German State Data Protection Commissioner imposes 1.2 million € GDPR fine

1. July 2020

The German State Data Protection Commissioner of Baden-Württemberg (“LfDI Ba-Wü”)  imposed a GDPR fine of 1.240.000€ on the German statutory health insurance provider AOK Baden-Württemberg (“AOK”). The fine was a result of the health insurance’s lack of technical and organisational measures pursuant to Art. 32 GDPR. It is the highest fine the LfDI Ba-Wü has ever imposed.

Between 2015 and 2019 the AOK organised lotteries on various occasions and collected personal data of the participants, including their contact details and current health insurance affiliations. The AOK wanted to use the data of the lottery participants for advertising purposes, insofar as the participants gave their consent to this. To ensure the security of processing, the AOK implemented internal guidelines and data protection training of their staff as technical and organisatioal measures. However, these measures were not sufficient to comply with Art. 32 GDPR because AOK staff used the personal data of more than 500 lottery participants for advertising purposes without their prior consent.

Following the investigation of the LfDI Ba-Wü, the AOK immediately stopped all marketing activities in order to revise their internal policies and processes against the GDPR. The LfDI Ba-Wü explained that in determining the extent of the fine, it considered the following mitigating factors:

  • the cooperation of the AOK with the Data Protection Authority,
  • the fact that the AOK as a statutory health insurance provider is an important part of the German healthcare system, and
  • the burdens of the current Corona-Pandemic on the healthcare system.

Finally, the Commissioner pointed out that technical and organisational measures must be regularly adjusted to the actual conditions of each processing activity, in order to ensure an adequate level of data protection in the long term.

EDPB releases new official register of Art. 60 GDPR decisions

29. June 2020

On 25 June 2020, the European Data Protection Board (“EDPB”) released a new register of final decisions by national European Data Protection Authorities (Supervisory Authorities) cooperating with one another pursuant to Art. 60 GDPR. The register provides access to the decisions themselves, summaries of the decisions in English, and information on the identity of the cooperating Lead Supervisory Authority and Concerned Supervisory Authorities.

The GDPR postulates that Supervisory Authorities have to cooperate in potential cases of GDPR violations that include cross-border data processing activities. During this cooperation, the Lead Supervisory Authority will be in charge of preparing the draft decision and involving the Concerned Supervisory Authorities, and will act as the sole interlocutor of the Controller or Processor (“One-Stop-Shop”-Principle), Art. 56 and Art. 60 GDPR.

To date, the new EDPB register contains 110 final decisions. The EDPB states in its announcement that ‘the register will be valuable to data protection practitioners who will gain access to information showcasing how SAs work together to enforce the GDPR in practice.’

DPA Liechtenstein published a description on the procedure for data protection inspections

24. June 2020

The Data Protection Authority of Liechtenstein (DPA) – Datenschutzstelle Fürstentum Liechtenstein –  recently published a description on the procedure for data protection inspections conducted by the DPA to provide transparent information on the process from the first contact until the completion of the audit.

The DPA distinguishes five kind of inspections:

  1. Investigations in individual cases on the basis of complaints or indications;
  2. Preventive or unprompted investigations in the form of data protection checks;
  3. Investigations at the request of a responsible person or processor;
  4. Investigations based on a legal mandate;
  5. Coordinated joint investigations.

According to the published statement the purpose of a data protection inspections is to assess the actual situation (current status) established by the reviewed organisation and, if necessary, to bring data processing activities into compliance with the GDPR or the DSG  in a specific way and within a specific period of time, in particular by giving instructions (target status).

The process depends on the individual case and the individual steps can be repeated or may be executed in a different order, but basically the process contains 6 steps:

  1. Contact and announcement;
  2. Document check;
  3. (optional);
  4. Audit report;
  5. Exercise of remedial powers and injunction;
  6. follow-up test.

The DPA also focuses on the accountability and cooperation obligations of the controller and explains which documents are usually requested and reviewed and which have an impact on the report.

Inter alia, the following documents are requested:

  • Records of Processing Activities;
  • Information of the Data Subjects;
  • Model consent form;
  • Information on Data Protection Trainings of employees;
  • Contracts regarding Data Processing on behalf;
  • Data Protection Impact Assessments.

Furthermore, the DPA also requests documents to be able to evaluate the effectiveness of the implemented technical and organisational measures, like:

  • Organization Chart;
  • Authorization Concept;
  • Confidentiality and Non Disclosure Agreements;
  • Data Deletion and Retention Concept.

To assess the current status, an evaluation scale is used to assess the degree of implementation of the respective measure. This ranges from ‘Not available’ to ‘Optimized’.

The duration of the assessment depends on the individual case and may take several months.

The statement is accessible in German only.

Contact Tracing Apps: U.K. Update and EDPB Interoperability Statement

23. June 2020

In another update about contact tracing apps, we are going to talk about the new path of contact tracing in the United Kingdom (UK), as well as the European Data Protection Board’s (EDPB) statement in regards to the cross-border interoperability of the contact tracing apps being deployed in the European Union.

UK Contact Tracing App Update

Since starting the field tests on the NHS COVID-19 App on the Isle of Wight, the UK government has decided to change their approach towards the contact tracing model. It has been decided to abandon the centralized app model in favour of the decentralized Google/Apple alternative.

The change was brought on by technical issues and privacy challenges which surfaced during the trial period on the Isle of Wight, and in the end were direct consequences of the centralized model and important enough to motivate the change of approach.

The technical problems included issues with the background Bluetooth access, as well as operation problems in the light of cross-border interoperability. Further, the data protection risks of mission creep and a lack of transparency only urged on the of the app.

The new model is widely used throughout the European Union, and provides more data protection as well as better technical support. The only deficit in comparison with the centralized model is the lesser access to data by epidemiologists, which seems to be a trade off that the UK government is willing to take for the increase in data protection and technical compatibility.

EDPB statement on cross-border interoperability

On June 17th, 2020, the EDPB has released a statement with regards to the cross-border interoperability of contact tracing apps. The statement builds on the EDPB Guideline from 04/2020 with regards to data protection aspects of contact tracing apps, emphasising the importance of the issues presented.

The statement stems from an agreement between EU-Member states and the European Commission formed in May 2020 with regards to the basic guidelines for cross-border interoperability of contact tracing apps, as well as the newly settled technical specs for the achievement of such an interoperability.

The EDPB states key aspects that have to be kept in mind during the entirety of the project, namely transparency, legal basis, controllership, data subject’s rights, as well as data retention and minimisation rules.

Further, the statement emphasises that the sharing of data about individuals which have been diagnosed or tested positively should only be triggered by a voluntary action of the users themselves. In the end, the goal of interoperability should not be used as an argument to extend the collection of personal data further than necessary.

Overall, this type of sharing of personal data can pose an increased data protection risk to the personal data of the users, which is why it needs to be made sure that the principles set down by the GDPR are being upheld, and made sure that there is no less intrusive method to be used in the matter.

France’s supreme court, the Conseil d’État, restricts the CNIL’s Cookie Guidelines

22. June 2020

On June 19th, 2020, the French Conseil d’État has ordered the Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL) in a court decision to dismiss particular provisions made in its Guidelines on the subject of cookies and other tracers, which it published in 2019.

The Conseil d’État has received several complaints by businesses and professional associations, who turned to the supreme court in order to have the CNIL’s Guidelines refuted.

The main focus of the decision was the ban on cookie walls. Cookie walls are cookie consent pages which, upon declining consent to the processing of the cookies used for the website, deny the user access to the website. In their Guideline on cookies and other tracers from 2019, the CNIL had declared that such cookie walls were not in accordance with the principles of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), causing a lot of businesses to appeal such a provision in front of the Conseil d’État.

In their decision on the matter, the Conseil d’État has declared that the CNIL, as only having suggestive and recommendatory competence in data protection matters, did not have the competence to issue a ban on cookie walls in the Guidelines. The Conseil d’État focused on the fact that the CNIL’s competence was only recommendatory, and did not have the finality to issue such a provision.

However, in its decision, the supreme court did not put to question whether the ban of cookie walls was in itself lawful or not. The Conseil d’État refrained from giving any substantive statement on the matter, leaving that question unanswered for the moment.

The Conseil d’État has further stated in its decision that in the case of the ability of data subjects to give their consent to processing activities, it is indeed necessary, in order to form free and informed consent, that the data subject is informed individually about each processing activity and its purpose before giving consent. However, business have the margin to decide if they collect the data subject’s consent througha one time, global consent with specifically individualized privacy policies, or over individual consent for each processing activity.

In the rest of its decision, the Conseil d’État has confirmed the remainder of the CNIL’s guidelines and provision on the matter as being lawful and applicable, giving the complainants only limited reason to rejoice.

Thailand postpones Enforcement of new Personal Data Protection Act

In response to the European General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) becoming applicable in 2018, Thailand adopted its first-ever Personal Data Protection Act (“PDPA”) into law on 28 May 2019. As it is fashioned after the GDPR, the PDPA is built around principles that vastly align with the GDPR, especially in the areas of data protection principles, legal bases, and data subject rights. Originally, it was determined that the PDPA would start its applicability one year after its adoption, on 27 May 2020.

Now, the Thai Government has approved of a draft decree by the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (“MDES”) to postpone the enforcement of most sections of the PDPA to 31 May 2021. The MDES explained that the reasons for delay are the current Corona pandemic and its strain on businesses, as well as many businesses not being prepared for PDPA compliance. Notably, Brasil also postponed the enforcement of its new Data Protecion Law (“LGPD”) for similar reasons (we reported).

The only sections of the PDPA that will be enforced as originally planned include the appointment of the Personal Data Protection Committee members and the establishment of the Office of the Personal Data Protection Committee. Whilst the delay allows companys more time to become PDPA compliant, the lack of enforcement regarding data subject rights in the meantime are a big concern of critics, especially in light of the recent adoption of Thailand’s controversial new cybersecurity law.

Germany Update: Covid-19 Tracing App launched in mid June

18. June 2020

On June 16th, 2020 Germany has introduced their new COVID-19 tracing app called “Corona-Warn-App” and released it for download. Within the first day, over six million citizens downloaded the app, and the government hopes to see the number increase for better effectiveness of the method.

As an Open Source project from the start, giving unhindered access to the programming code, it was able to work on safety and data protection issues throughout the seven weeks of its development, as well as keep the entire process transparent to future users.

Overall, the first impressions on the side of data protection have been good, with the Federal Data Protection Officer (Bundesdatenschutzbeauftragter) Ulrich Kelber stating to the Saarbrückener Zeitung that the app “gives a solid impression”, but he would like to “have seen a Data Protection Impact Assessment before the launch”.

The data protection aspects

The German contact tracing app claims to put the highest importance on data protection, and the transparency for the users to know what happens with their data.

Upon the download, the app gives the chance to read through a thorough privacy policy, giving the user all the information necessary to be able to understand and consent to the use of their data. In effect, the personal data collected and stored remains minimal: the consent to the usage of the Exposure Notification Framework, TANs for testing verification, as well as consent for a daily upload of the diagnostics key, which is only stored for 14 days.

The app, developed by SAP and Telekom, uses Bluetooth technology to judge exposure based on two criteria: the distance between two smartphones and the duration of the encounter. If the threshold requirements of those two criteria are met, the phones exchange a random key code, which are stored for 14 days on the phone devices, and checked for positive test results there. It will then tell you if your exposure is low or high risk, and will give you suggestions on how to act based on the level of risk to exposure. Due to this procedure, there is no need for the collection of personal information regarding the identity of the person. Especially, the notification in case of exposure is not in real time, making it impossible to securely identify the coronavirus positive person that has been encountered.

Furthermore, the app not only puts an emphasis on anonymity, but also on voluntariness. Whether and how you want to use the app is entirely up to the user. The user may disable to Exposure Notification Framework, and decide for themselves if they want to share the results of a test with the app. This comes, of course, with limitations to the effectiveness of the app, but it gives the user more control over his own data shared.

One of the current deficits is that due to the lack of hardware systems, the testing laboratories cannot verify the test results through the users scanning a QR-code, as originally planned. However, in the meantime, a notification hotline has been set up, although this raises data protection concerns due to the fact that it could be taken advantage of or abused.

Lastly, one of the big data protection aspects, which has caused a big stir in the cases of the tracing apps, is the storage of the information. The Corona-Warn-App stores the data of the users in a decentralized manner, which means that there is no direct upload to a cloud, but instead the entire process happens on the users’ devices. This shields from potential misuse of the data by parties involved in the development as well as the government, and was recommended by the European Parliament and the European Data Protection Board as the safer storage option for these types of contact tracing apps.

Overview

While the app is only in its first few days of launch, it has received a lot of praise for the way it handles the different problems with data protection and IT security. It remains to be seen if the necessary 60% of citizens using the contact tracing app can be mobilized in order to ensure maximum effectiveness.

Future plans involve cross border cooperation with different countries and their own contact tracing apps in order to ensure the practicability and effectiveness of these apps, as the containment of the pandemic is an international venture.

Overall, the Corona-Warn-App seems to be a decent development despite its hurried creation period. However, at this point it is only the beginning of the contact tracing app, and it remains to be seen how the developers incorporate fixes for upcoming problems.

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