Vis Consulting Sp. z o.o. – €4,673 Fine (Poland, 2020)

The President of the UODO decided to conduct inspection activities at a company Vis Consulting Sp. z o.o. which provides telemarketing services to other companies - one of which was a subject of a decision issued earlier by the UODO. The supervisory authority found it necessary to conduct inspection activities at the entity which actually operated the telephone calls and processed the data. When arrived at the company's registered address, the UODO’s inspectors did not find any representatives of the Vis Consulting Sp. z o.o. After the back-and-forth communication between the UODO representatives and the company's proxy, the latter informed the UODO on the phone that the inspection cannot take place. On two consecutive days of the planned inspection activities, the company made it impossible to carry out the inspection twice. Furthermore, on the date on which the inspectors attempted to conduct inspection at Vis Consulting Sp. z o.o., its authorities decided to liquidate that entity. The President of the UODO had to make a decision about the company's compliance with Article 31 GDPR. The President of the UODO decided that Vis Consulting Sp. z o.o. in no way wished to cooperate with the supervisory authority. The UODO concluded that the company deliberately thwarted the inspection and thus prevented the President of the UODO from performing statutory tasks under Article 58(1)(e) and (f) GDPR. The situation gives rise to the suspicion that the Company's thwarting of the inspection was aimed at preventing the UODO from collecting evidence of unlawful processing of personal data by the company. Thus the company infringed the provisions of the GDPR referring to cooperation with the supervisory authority and enabling it access to all personal data and any information. Hence, the President of the UODO concluded that the conditions for imposing a fine on the company were satisfied. In connection with suspicion of commission of an offence under Article 108 (1)