KSV1870 Information GmbH (respondent in the initial procedure before the DSB) – Court Ruling (Austria, 2020)

In 2010, the data subject had been subject to insolvency proceedings. In 2012, he was ordered to repay 70% of his open debts and managed to fulfil this payment plan by mid-March 2018. The competent court consequently accepted his request to remove information on the insolvency from the public insolvency register ([https://edikte.justiz.gv.at/edikte/id/idedi8.nsf/suche!OpenForm&subf=e Insolvenzdatei]). This publicly available information of the data subject's insolvency had also been stored in the database of the credit reference agency KSV 1870 Information GmbH. The data subject is also the sole managing director of a limited company. The database entry on his insolvency has also been linked with the data stored on this company. The data subject requested the erasure of the data on his insolvency under Article 17 and 21 GDPR, stating that he has paid back his debts in line with the payment plan and that data on his insolvency are no longer published in the insolvency register. After KSV 1870 Information GmbH refused to delete the data, the data subject lodged a complaint with the Austrian DPA (Datenschutzbehörde - DSB). The DSB rejected the complaint and the data subject filed an appeal with the Austrian Federal Administrative Court (Bundesverwaltungsgericht - BVwG). Is a credit reference agency such as KSV 1870 Information GmbH allowed to store data on the insoleveny of an individual beyond the availability of that data in the official insolveny register? If so, for how long? The BVwG held, that KSV 1870 Information GmbH is allowed to store the data on the data subject's insolvency, even though that data is no longer available in the official insolvency register. Both the amount of a debt and the time that has passed since its incurrence and its payment are relevant to assess an indivuidual's creditworthiness. Neither EU law nor the national Austrian law contain provisions on the allowed storage period of creditworthiness data (such as information on insolvenc