Ombudsman – Order (Poland, 2020)
General GDPR enforcement action
This case relates to broader data protection obligations, not specifically to cookie or consent banner compliance. It is not included in cookie statistics or the Risk Calculator.
Poland's data protection authority decided that judges and prosecutors must publicly declare their association memberships as required by law. This means their personal data can be processed legally under GDPR, as it fulfills a legal obligation. The decision reassures public officials that their data is handled lawfully when fulfilling legal duties.
What happened
Judges and prosecutors in Poland must publicly declare their association memberships, and this data processing is legally required.
Who was affected
Judges and prosecutors in Poland who are required to submit and publish their association memberships.
What the authority found
The Polish data protection authority found that the processing of judges' and prosecutors' data is lawful as it fulfills a legal obligation under GDPR.
Why this matters
This decision clarifies that when the law requires data processing, it can be done without breaching GDPR. Public officials can be assured that their data is protected when they comply with legal obligations.
GDPR Articles Cited
The UODO clarified that the obligation for judges and prosecutors to submit declarations about their membership in associations, and to publish them in the Bulletin of Public Information is unequivocally stipulated by law. Therefore, the processing of personal data of the above mentioned persons does not violate the law on personal data protection. The proceedings were initiated ex officio after the Ombudsman submitted a letter to the President of the UODO on 9 March 2020. The Ombudsman indicated, that a requirement to publish such statements in the Bulletin of Public Information impose a limitation on the privacy of judges and prosecutors. When examining the case of processing of data that judges and prosecutors submit concerning their membership in associations, the President of UODO took into account the current jurisprudence of the Voivodeship Administrative Court, according to which if the processing of personal data is based on the national law, it is in compliance with the provisions on personal data protection and there are no grounds for the President of UODO to exercise the corrective powers provided for in Article 58(2) GDPR. The proceedings revealed that the obligation to submit statements by judges and prosecutors results from the amendment of the Law on the Common Court System, the Act on the Supreme Court and certain other legal acts. Processing of personal data of judges and prosecutors is therefore the result of the above mentioned persons fulfilling the obligation clearly defined in the law. The processing is thus based on Article 6(1)(c) GDPR, according to which the processing of personal data is allowed if it is necessary to fulfill a legal obligation imposed on the controller. Therefore, in the present proceedings, the President of the UODO did not find any grounds to declare a breach of the provisions on personal data protection. In the context of the above, the President of the UODO did not identify any grounds to order the restriction
Outcome
Order
A binding order requiring the controller to take specific action.
Related Enforcement Actions (0)
No other enforcement actions found for Ombudsman in PL
This is the only recorded action for this entity in this jurisdiction.
Details
About this data
Cite as: Cookie Fines. Ombudsman - Poland (2020). Retrieved from cookiefines.eu
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