- Enforcing jurisdiction
- Austria · Geography does not establish applicable law.
- Confirmed applicable legislation
- Privacy topics
Data Protection Authority - DSB (appellant and applicant) – Court Ruling (Austria, 2021)
Privacy enforcement record
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An Austrian court ruled that the Public Employment Service could not use its algorithm for assessing jobseekers without proper legal grounds. This matters because it shows that even government services must follow data protection laws.
What happened
The court prohibited the Public Employment Service from using its algorithm for processing jobseeker data without a legal basis.
Who was affected
Jobseekers whose data was processed by the Public Employment Service were affected.
What the authority found
The Data Protection Authority found that the service provider lacked a suitable legal basis for processing personal data under GDPR.
Why this matters
This case highlights the need for all organizations, including public services, to have a valid legal basis for data processing. It serves as a reminder for businesses to ensure compliance with data protection regulations.
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Linked-source text retrieved.
Automated check recorded — 20 March 2026.
Processing notes: national law identified.
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The Public Employment Service (AMS) is a service provider under public law with its own legal personality. It is responsible for implementing the labour market policy of the federal government. In order to support workers in their (re-)integration into the labour market, it offers various services which are implemented by its counsellors. In the course of a counselling interview, counsellors have to discuss the client's wishes/expectations, their previous life history and the reasons for their unemployment. The jobseeker's chances on the labour market should also be addressed and discussed. In order to support counsellors in assessing the labour market opportunities of jobseekers, the AMS has developed a concept for calculating the labour market opportunities of jobseekers (AMAS) In concrete terms, AMS uses an algorithm to automatically calculate the probability of currently registered customers being employed for a certain number of days within a certain period in the future. For this purpose, a so called IC is calculated from the following data: age group, gender, group of States, education, health impairment, caring duties, professional group, pre-career regional labour market performance, duration of the business case at the AMS Based on the calculated IC, a classification is made into the following groups: Service clients with high labour market opportunities, care clients with low labour market opportunities, counselling clients with medium labour market opportunities. In order to ensure that the counsellors do not adopt AMAS unquestioningly, the AMS has issued guidelines and corresponding instructions as well as conducted training courses. The Data Protection Authority (DSB) initiated an ex officio investigation into the matter and concluded that the AMS was prohibited from processing data with the help of the AMAS with effect from 1 January 2021, unless there is a suitable legal basis for the data processing. This decision was then repealed by the Federal A
Outcome
Court Ruling
A ruling by a national court on a data-protection matter.
Related Cases (0)
No other cases found for Data Protection Authority - DSB (appellant and applicant) in AT
This is the only recorded case for this entity in this jurisdiction.
Details
Ruling Date
27 January 2021
Authority
DPA BVwG
About this data
Cite as: Cookie Fines. Data Protection Authority - DSB (appellant and applicant) - Austria (2021). Retrieved from cookiefines.eu
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