European Union
PRESS RELEASE
EDPS/10/4
Brussels, Tuesday 9 March 2010
EDPS welcomes Court of Justice's ruling strengthening independent
position of data protection authorities
Today, the Court of Justice decided that data protection authorities
in the German Länder which supervise the processing of personal data
in the private sector are not acting with "complete independence" as
required by the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC.
The case was brought by the Commission which argued that since these
data protection authorities are part of the regional administration
and subject to State scrutiny, they were not acting in complete
independence. The German government stated that sufficient
independence was ensured by making these authorities independent from
the parties they supervise. The European Data Protection Supervisor
(EDPS) intervened in the case in support of the arguments of the
Commission.
The EDPS is very pleased with the judgment. Peter Hustinx, EDPS,
stated: " The judgment of the Court is of great importance. It
strengthens and clarifies the position of data protection authorities
as part of the fundamental right to data protection. This judgment is
relevant for all supervisory authorities in all EU Member States."
The Court confirmed the position of the Commission. It considered that
"complete independence" means that the supervisory authority should be
able to make decisions independently from any direct or indirect
external influence. An authority must not only be independent from the
parties it supervises, but must also not be part of government since
the government itself may be an interested party. The German
government argued that the State scrutiny in Germany sought only to
guarantee the legality of the acts of the data protection authorities
and not to exert any political influence. However, the Court
considered that the existence of such State scrutiny means that the
possibility remains that the authorities are not able to act
objectively.
In its judgment the Court stated clearly that supervisory authorities
are "an essential component of the protection of individuals with
regard to the processing of personal data".
For more information, please contact the EDPS Press Service at:
press@edps.europa.eu
EDPS - The European guardian of personal data protection
www.edps.europa.eu
