Court case UPRS I U 1911/2019-21 – Court Ruling (Slovenia, 2022)

Plaintiff believed that the first instance authority had ilegally obtained, stored and processed his personal data related to registration of permanent residence without his consent or knowledge, he also claimed material and non-material damages because of this breach and not filling obligation in conection to data minimisation principle. Plaintiff requested deletion of his personal data. First instance authority made a decision, he appealed and second instance (Ministry of Agriculture,Forestry and Food). Administrative court has decided that plaintiff should have first appeald to Information Commissioner (Informacijski pooblaščenec) and then after that plaintiff would be allowed to start administrative dispute before Ministry. Since main issues were procedural nature, court did not go into judging matters of processing personal data. Given the content of the plaintiff's request, the defendant did not act correctly when it transferred his complaint for consideration to an authority which, according to the clear provisions of ZVOP-1, is not a competent authority for decision-making at the second level. Incorrect legal instruction on the right to appeal and wrongful conduct of the first-instance authority cannot be to the detriment of the party who acts on it.