Bergens Tidende – Dismissed (Norway, 2021)

The newspaper Bergens Tidende published a story regarding an insolvency case, which highlighted that the tax authority had declared the complainant bankrupt due to unpaid taxes. The article also mentioned that the complainant had payment remarks and execution proceedings against him, and that the information was collected from a credit rating. The newspaper later informed that some of the information was factually incorrect. The complainant also filed a complaint with the Norwegian Press Complaints Commission ("Pressens Faglige Utvalg"), where the complaint was upheld. Did the publishing of the complainants personal data fall under the exemption for journalistic activity in the national legislation? PVN remarked that the wording of the exemption for journalistic activities in Personopplysningsloven § 3 was broader than Article 85 GDPR. It highlighted that the exemption was not absolute, but that freedom of expression needed to be proportionally balanced against the right of privacy. PVN based the assessment on the wording of Article 85 GDPR, The Norwegian Constitution § 100, The European Convention of Human Rights Article 10, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Article 10 and Article 19. PVN refers to C-73/07 para. 55 and 56 to support their view of the assessement of proportionality and that the exemption must be read in light of freedom of expression. PVN agreed with the complainant that the exemption for journalistic activities was not absolute. However, the personal data collected in the specific case was for an article under an established newspaper with editorial control and with a clear public interest. The complaint was therefore rejected.