Complainant: unnkown GmbH (limited company), pharma trade – Dismissed (Austria, 2020)

The complainant (hereinafter the "company") is a limited company under Austrian law conducting business as pharmacy wholesale. It was subject to an audit of the Bundesamt für Sicherheit im Gesundheitswesen (hereinafter "BASG"), the Austrian Federal Office for Safety in Health Care. In the course of this audit, the BASG processed personal data of the company. The company lodged a complaint with the DSB, claiming that the BASG had violated the company's right to confidentiality of personal data pursuant to §1(1) DSG by unlawfully collecting, processing, disclosing and failing to delete the company's personal data ex officio. The BASG contested the company's entitlement to lodge a complaint with the DSB, as the company was not a natural person. Further, the BASG contested to have violated any data protection rights, mainly because under Austrian Law the BASG was under a legal obligation to process the data in connection with the audit. *Does §1 DSG apply to legal persons? *If so, do the provisions of the DSG, which deal with the procedure before the DSB, also apply to legal persons? The DSB held that at a legal person has the constitutional right to data protection under § 1 DSG (Austrian Data Protection Act) and is entitled to lodge a complaint before the DSB if these rights are violated. The DSB further held that the procedural provisions of the DSG - which deal with the procedure before the DSB - also apply regarding data protection complaints lodged by legal persons. The DSB reasoned as follows: *§1 DSG has a wider scope of applicability than Article 8 GRC (the latter only protects natural persons). *As Article 16(2) TFEU leaves it to member states to grant data protection rights to legal persons as well as long as this does compromise the level of protection of the GRC, nor the primacy, unity and effectiveness of Union law. *The provisions of the DSG - which deal with the procedure before the DSB - must also apply on legal persons because the Austrian legisla