Municipal alderman – €5,000 Fine (Belgium, 2019)

€5,000Autorité de Protection des Données28 November 2019Belgium
final
Fine

General GDPR enforcement action

This case relates to broader data protection obligations, not specifically to cookie or consent banner compliance. It is not included in cookie statistics or the Risk Calculator.

A municipal alderman in Belgium was fined €5,000 for sending election emails without proper permission. The email addresses used were not collected for this purpose, which violated privacy rules. This case highlights the importance of obtaining consent before using personal data for new purposes.

What happened

A municipal alderman sent election emails using addresses not collected for that purpose.

Who was affected

Residents who received election emails from the alderman without prior consent.

What the authority found

The Belgian data protection authority found the alderman lacked a valid legal basis for using the email addresses, violating GDPR's requirements.

Why this matters

This case serves as a reminder that public officials must respect privacy laws when using personal data for campaigns. It underscores the need for clear consent when repurposing collected data.

GDPR Articles Cited

Art. 6(GDPR)
Full Legal Summary
Detailed

Fine for sending election mailings without a sufficient legal basis. The e-mail addresses used have not been collected for this purpose.

Related Enforcement Actions (0)

No other enforcement actions found for Municipal alderman in BE

This is the only recorded action for this entity in this jurisdiction.

Details

Fine Date

28 November 2019

Authority

Autorité de Protection des Données

Fine Amount

€5,000

Enforcement Tracker ID

ETid-124

About this data

Data: CMS GDPR Enforcement Tracker
Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
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Cite as: Cookie Fines. Municipal alderman - Belgium (2019). Retrieved from cookiefines.eu

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