Legelisten.no AS – Court Ruling (Norway, 2019)

In 2017, the Norwegian DPA Datatilsynet found that a company "Legelisten", running an anonymous review website of healthcare personnel, lacked a legal basis for processing and instructed them to allow said personnel to opt out of being listed and reviewed, in addition to several other instructions. Both the initial complainant and Legelisten responded to the DPA's decision with complaints. The DPA considered both complaints, but did not find any grounds to change their decision. Consequently, the case was submitted to the Norwegian Privacy Appeals Board, who considered comments from the initial complainant, Legelisten, the Norwegian Consumer Council, and the DPA. The Board focused their assessment on the lawfulness of processing of personal data on the website Legelisten.no. First, they considered the applicable law, as the GDPR had entered into force since the initial complaints dating back to 2012. They found that the GDPR would indeed apply. The Board reviewed several aspects relating to the case in question, summarised below. = The Board agreed with the DPA's finding that Legelisten is the controller for all processing of personal data related to their site (as listed above), for both users and the healthcare personnel, because they in all these instances determine how the personal data will be processed (the purpose) and the means (technical platform, layout, which processors to use). = The Board agreed with the DPA's finding that there were no exemptions or derogations for processing carried out for journalistic purposes in this case. = The DPA found that Legelisten lacked a legal basis for processing contact information (email address) of users submitting reviews, because they could not rely on consent as this was not found to have been provided voluntarily. The Board agreed that email addresses will often reveal the identity of a person and is, as such, personal data, and that information related to visits to or contact with specialist healthcare pers