- Enforcing jurisdiction
- France · Geography does not establish applicable law.
- Confirmed applicable legislation
- Privacy topics
La Quadrature du Net – Court Ruling (France, 2020)
Privacy enforcement record
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A French organization challenged a government plan to create a biometric login system for public services. They argued that the plan lacked proper consent and could misuse sensitive data. This ruling raises questions about privacy and consent in digital services.
What happened
La Quadrature du Net challenged the legality of a French government decree for a common biometric authentication system.
Who was affected
Citizens who would use the biometric authentication system for accessing public services.
What the authority found
The court considered the arguments about consent and data collection but did not issue a ruling against the government decree.
Why this matters
This case emphasizes the need for clear consent when collecting sensitive data. It serves as a reminder for organizations to ensure compliance with privacy laws when implementing new technologies.
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On May 13th, 2019 the French government adopted a decree 2019-452 allowing the creation of a common biometric authentication system for several government and public service websites applicationshttps://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORFTEXT000038475477/. This system is part of the FranceConnect project which allows to login public service websites using your login and password of another public service websitehttps://franceconnect.gouv.fr/. The french organization La Quadrature du Net (LQDN) which promotes digital rights and defends freedom of citizens challenged the legality of the decree. The organization argued that the decree is not based on a lawful consent as described in article 4(11) and article 7(4) GDPR and required in article article 9(2)(a) when dealing with sensitive data. LQDN also argued that the data collection was disproportionate to the purpose of the processing. On this topic, LQDN asked the Conseil d'Etat to refer two preliminary questions to the CJEU: *Should the assessment of the validity of the consent be made at the level of each service subject to personal data processing, independently of the existence of another "equivalent" service or at the level of all "equivalent services"? *Are the biometric data collected and processed by a mobile application using facial recognition technology for authentication purposes from certain public services and their partners adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purposes for which they are collected and processed? Lastly, LQDN claimed that the decree was adopted in violation of the procedure required in the then [https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/loda/article_lc/LEGIARTI000037090141/2019-05-12 section 27] of the law n° 78-17 Informatique & Libertés (since replaced by [https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/loda/article_lc/LEGIARTI000037822860 article 31(II)]) and [https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/loda/article_lc/LEGIARTI000006527486/2019-07-01 section 22] of the French 1958 Constitution. Does the
Outcome
Court Ruling
A ruling by a national court on a data-protection matter.
Related Cases (1)
Other cases involving La Quadrature du Net in FR
Details
Ruling Date
4 November 2020
Authority
DPA CE
About this data
Cite as: Cookie Fines. La Quadrature du Net - France (2020). Retrieved from cookiefines.eu
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