Sąd Okręgowy w Krakowie – €2,324 Fine (Poland, 2023)

The Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs ('Minister') informed the DPA that the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland ('Consulate') sent, at the request of the District Court of Kraków ('Court'), correspondence through a postal operator to an addressee. The addressee informed the Consulate that a delivered parcel was damaged, additionally wrapped and was incomplete. The infringement covered a various categories of personal data, namely first and last names, ID numbers, addresses of residence, dates of birth, bank account numbers, photographs. Personal data of two children were also breached. The DPA identified the court as a controller of the data affected by the breach. It invited the Court to indicate whether a risk analysis had been done to assess whether a data protection breach required notifying the DPA and the affected individuals under Articles 33 and 34 GDPR. In its defence, the court referred to Article 175dd of the Law on the Common Court System, stating that the District Court of Kraków, under the President of the Court of Appeal in Krakow, is responsible for overseeing data processing in court proceedings and legal protection tasks. As a response, the DPA clarified that it was the competent authority to investigate the infringement in question. However, the Court reiterated its stance, referencing various articles of the Law on the System of Common Courts and a decision by the CJEU from March 24, 2022 ([https://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=256461&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=3577006 Case C-245/20]). The Court emphasized that the protection of judicial independence is paramount, stating that judicial functions should be exercised independently without external interference or pressure. They asserted that the administration of justice encompasses all operations related to judicial activities, including informing parties about court proceedings. Additionally, the Court referenced a decision by