DPA case Deliberação 2019/495 – Violation Found (Portugal, 2019)

Several Portuguese public entities requested the DPA to waive the imposition of fines for a period of three years, citing Article 44(2) and Article 59 Law 58/2019, despite no administrative offense proceedings being initiated against them. The DPA determined that such a waiver can only be requested after an administrative offense accusation, in the context of a specific administrative offence procedure. This is because only once an unlawful act has been verified and its severity assessed can there be a balanced consideration of the data subjects' rights and the public interests protected by the violated rules, alongside the specific circumstances of the offender and the public interest affected by the penalty. In this regard, the DPA determined that all requests for waiving penalties submitted outside of an ongoing administrative offense proceeding would not be considered.