Pitagorasz Oktatási Stúdió Kft – €1,250 Fine (Hungary, 2023)

Following several compaints, the DPA launched an "ex officio" investigation. The controller (Client 1, Pitagorasz Oktatási Stúdió Kft) organises preparation courses for entry exams to secondary schools. It sent letters to students of different age (who are probably interested in applying for an entry exam), addressed to the students but mentioning that they are destined (also) to their caretakers. The addresses were received from the official government register, quoting as purpose market research. There is a law enabling this, but since 2019, this is not possible for direct marketing in respect of private individuals. The letters were sent after the registration to the courses was closed. Parents were informed about the source of the data at the bottom of the letters, and that the use of the data was terminated when the letter was forwarded. The information on the letter and in the legal basis could give the impression that this was an official communication and based on a legal obligation. The letter itself did not contain a market research questionnaire and could not be returned by mail. It hinted to an on line questionnaire which could be filled in. The privacy statement was not provided, it was only mentioned that it is available on the homepage of the controller (not a specific link to the statement itself). The information on the privacy statement mixed the processing of addresses used for sending the letters, the processing of registrations and of responses to the on line questionnaire. Different pieces of information (registration form, privacy statement etc.) contained differing information as to the legal basis of processing. The information given for consent was incomplete. The DPA acquired information from the provider of a mailing software and database used. It was established that this provider did not have access to the personal data, was neither controller, nor processor. The DPA investigated the database and found data of different groups of data s