- Enforcing jurisdiction
- Belgium · Geography does not establish applicable law.
- Confirmed applicable legislation
- Privacy topics
DPA case 109/2023 – Complaint Upheld (Belgium, 2023)
Privacy enforcement record
This record is classified outside cookie consent. Subject classification does not confirm an applicable law. It is not included in cookie statistics or the Risk Calculator.
A Belgian estate agent ignored multiple requests from a person to stop sending unwanted marketing emails. The DPA found that the estate agent violated GDPR by not responding to the person's requests. This case highlights the importance of respecting people's choices regarding marketing communications.
What happened
The Belgian DPA upheld a complaint against an estate agent for failing to remove a person from their marketing list.
Who was affected
The individual who received unwanted marketing emails from the estate agent.
What the authority found
The DPA ruled that the estate agent violated GDPR by not addressing the person's objections to direct marketing and failing to respond in a timely manner.
Why this matters
This ruling reinforces the right of individuals to control their personal information and opt out of marketing. Companies must have effective processes to handle such requests.
View original scraped data
Original imported citations before automated processing; the processing history does not establish independent verification.
Source checks
Linked-source text retrieved.
Automated check recorded — 18 October 2026.
Processing notes: national law identified.
Retrieved text may be a secondary summary or an announcement. These automated statuses do not establish that the original decision was read or that the record received an independent legal review. How we check sources
Following the receipt of unwanted direct marketing emails, on 15 June 2022, the data subject had requested the controller (an estate agent) to remove him from its real estate mailing list. The controller did not respond to these requests. After contacting the controller several more times by email on 27 June 2022, and 4 May 2023 to request the removal of his email from their database to no effect, the data subject lodged a complaint with the Data Protection Authority on 20 June 2023. The Belgian DPA found a violation of Article 21(2) GDPR and Article 12(3) GDPR. Firstly, Article 21(2) establishes the right for a data subject to object to processing for direct marketing purposes. The Belgian DPA held that the controller was in violation of this provision by disregarding the data subject’s multiple objections to processing. Secondly, the Belgian DPA found that the controller was in breach of Article 12(3) GDPR. Article 12(3) GDPR establishes a one-month time limit for facilitating requests made under Articles 15-22 GDPR. The controller failed to respond to the data subject’s request within this timeframe. No fine was issued in this case. However, the controller was ordered to comply with Article 21(2) GDPR and to consider the erasure request under Article 17 GDPR.
Outcome
Complaint Upheld
A data subject complaint that was upheld by the DPA.
Related Enforcement Actions (0)
No other enforcement actions found for DPA case 109/2023 in BE
This is the only recorded action for this entity in this jurisdiction.
Details
About this data
Cite as: Cookie Fines. DPA case 109/2023 - Belgium (2023). Retrieved from cookiefines.eu
Last updated: