ΠΕΙΡΑΙΩΣ ΧΡΗΜΑΤΟΔΟΤΙΚΕΣ ΜΙΣΘΩΣΕΙΣ ΜΟΝΟΠΡΟΣΩΠΗ ΑΝΩΝΥΜΗ ΕΤΑΙΡΕΙΑ (PEIRAIOS LEASING M.A.E) – €20,000 Fine (Greece, 2023)

The company [https://publicity.businessportal.gr/company/7480501000 Piraeus Leasing] (the controller) posted an advertisement for the sale of property owned by CBP Leasing. In that advertisement there was a photo of the data subject's car parked next to the property. The property was previously owned by the data subject's father before it was seized. The data subject claimed that the license plate of his car was visible in the photograph, which allowed his social circle to become aware of the loss of his family property. The data subject submitted a request for erasure of the personal data concerning him and an objection to processing to the controller's data protection officer ('DPO'), asking for his license plate to be removed from the advertisement. The DPO responded, stating the car's registration number was not visible, but in order to avoid any concern the photograph was removed from their website and would be retained in the company's archives as proof of the fact that the registration number of the car was not visible. Later an acquaintance of the data subject who was a potential buyer of the property, shared emails with him revealing that the controller had shared images of the property with them, including the photo used in the advertisement, which clearly contained the data subject's car and his license plate. After uncovering new evidence, the data subject filed a complaint on against [https://publicity.businessportal.gr/company/7480501000 Piraeus Leasing] and another similar complaint against CBP Leasing (which was renamed to [https://publicity.businessportal.gr/company/3877401000 PIRAEUS FINANCIAL LEASING SINGLE MEMBER S.A.]). However, since both of these companies ceased to exist, the beneficiary by formation for both companies for any pending lawsuits became [https://publicity.businessportal.gr/company/162425301000 PEIRAIOS LEASING M.A.E.] Therefore, the Hellenic DPA considered the controller to be PEIRAIOS LEASING M.A.E., and considered both complaints together as they were filed by the same data subject against what now was the same defendant company. The Hellenic DPA found that the data controller (PEIRAIOS LEASING M.A.E.) had processed the data subject's personal data in violation of Article 5(1)(c) GDPR and Article 15(1) GDPR. Firstly, the DPA found a violation of Article 5(1)(c) GDPR, as the controller had retained a photograph containing the data subject's personal data, through which he could be identified. Moreover, the controller had transferred the personal data to a third party. Both of these actions were in violation of the principle of data minimisation. Secondly, the DPA found a violation of Article 15(1) GDPR. Under this Article, the data subject has the right to obtain from the controller confirmation as to whether or not personal data concerning them are being processed. In this instance, the DPA found a violation, as the controller alleged that it had already deleted the contested photograph from their website and had told the data subject that the photograph contained no personal data of his. Therefore, they falsely confirmed that no personal data of the data subject were being processed, when in actuality they were. As such, the DPA issued a fine of €20,000 in total. €10,000 for the breach of the principle of data minimisation (Article 5(1)(c) GDPR) and €10,000 for the violation of Article 15(1) GDPR.