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Enforcement

Regulatory actions, fines, warnings, and enforcement decisions

38 Posts
12 Topics
Feb 3 Latest

Municipality of Gooise Meren: Insufficient legal basis for data processing

€25,000 fine - Dutch Supervisory Authority for Data Protection (AP)

The Dutch DPA has imposed a fine of EUR 25,000 on the Municipality of Gooise Meren. The controller, one of ten municipalities that were fined, processed data regarding the Islamic community in its municipality using a force field analysis, for which it employed an external processor. This processing took place at a time of heightened societal concern about Islamic extremism and terrorism. During this period, the Dutch government and the National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism step

Municipality of Eindhoven: Insufficient legal basis for data processing

€25,000 fine - Dutch Supervisory Authority for Data Protection (AP)

The Dutch DPA has imposed a fine of EUR 25,000 on the Municipality of Eindhoven. The controller, one of ten municipalities that were fined, processed data regarding the Islamic community in its municipality using a force field analysis, for which it employed an external processor. This processing took place at a time of heightened societal concern about Islamic extremism and terrorism. During this period, the Dutch government and the National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism stepped

Municipality of Veenendaal: Insufficient legal basis for data processing

€25,000 fine - Dutch Supervisory Authority for Data Protection (AP)

The Dutch DPA has imposed a fine of EUR 25,000 on the Municipality of Veenendaal. The controller, one of ten municipalities that were fined, processed data regarding the Islamic community in its municipality using a force field analysis, for which it employed an external processor. This processing took place at a time of heightened societal concern about Islamic extremism and terrorism. During this period, the Dutch government and the National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism steppe

Municipality of Huizen: Insufficient legal basis for data processing

€25,000 fine - Dutch Supervisory Authority for Data Protection (AP)

The Dutch DPA has imposed a fine of EUR 25,000 on the Municipality of Huizen. The controller, one of ten municipalities that were fined, processed data regarding the Islamic community in its municipality using a force field analysis, for which it employed an external processor. This processing took place at a time of heightened societal concern about Islamic extremism and terrorism. During this period, the Dutch government and the National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism stepped up

Municipality of Haarlemmermeer: Insufficient legal basis for data processing

€25,000 fine - Dutch Supervisory Authority for Data Protection (AP)

The Dutch DPA has imposed a fine of EUR 25,000 on the Municipality of Haarlemmermeer. The controller, one of ten municipalities that were fined, processed data regarding the Islamic community in its municipality using a force field analysis, for which it employed an external processor. This processing took place at a time of heightened societal concern about Islamic extremism and terrorism. During this period, the Dutch government and the National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism st

Municipality of Tilburg: Insufficient legal basis for data processing

€25,000 fine - Dutch Supervisory Authority for Data Protection (AP)

The Dutch DPA has imposed a fine of EUR 25,000 on the Municipality of Tilburg. The controller, one of ten municipalities that were fined, processed data regarding the Islamic community in its municipality using a force field analysis, for which it employed an external processor. This processing took place at a time of heightened societal concern about Islamic extremism and terrorism. During this period, the Dutch government and the National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism stepped u

Municipality of Hilversum: Insufficient legal basis for data processing

€25,000 fine - Dutch Supervisory Authority for Data Protection (AP)

The Dutch DPA has imposed a fine of EUR 25,000 on the Municipality of Hilversum. The controller, one of ten municipalities that were fined, processed data regarding the Islamic community in its municipality using a force field analysis, for which it employed an external processor. This processing took place at a time of heightened societal concern about Islamic extremism and terrorism. During this period, the Dutch government and the National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism stepped

Municipality of Delft: Insufficient legal basis for data processing

€25,000 fine - Dutch Supervisory Authority for Data Protection (AP)

The Dutch DPA has imposed a fine of EUR 25,000 on the Municipality of Delft. The controller, one of ten municipalities that were fined, processed data regarding the Islamic community in its municipality using a force field analysis, for which it employed an external processor. This processing took place at a time of heightened societal concern about Islamic extremism and terrorism. During this period, the Dutch government and the National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism stepped up

Municipality of Zoetermeer: Insufficient legal basis for data processing

€25,000 fine - Dutch Supervisory Authority for Data Protection (AP)

The Dutch DPA has imposed a fine of EUR 25,000 on the Municipality of Zoetermeer. The controller, one of ten municipalities that were fined, processed data regarding the Islamic community in its municipality using a force field analysis, for which it employed an external processor. This processing took place at a time of heightened societal concern about Islamic extremism and terrorism. During this period, the Dutch government and the National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism steppe

Municipality of Ede: Insufficient legal basis for data processing

€25,000 fine - Dutch Supervisory Authority for Data Protection (AP)

The Dutch DPA has imposed a fine of EUR 25,000 on the Municipality of Ede. The controller, one of ten municipalities that were fined, processed data regarding the Islamic community in its municipality using a force field analysis, for which it employed an external processor. This processing took place at a time of heightened societal concern about Islamic extremism and terrorism. During this period, the Dutch government and the National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism stepped up me

Company: Non-compliance with general data processing principles

€20,000 fine - Belgian Data Protection Authority (APD)

The Belgian DPA imposed a fine of EUR 20,000 on a company. The controller is a company engaging in direct marketing activities. During those activies the company failed to comply with multiple data processing principle. In particular the company had no sufficient legal basis for the data processing, failed to inform the data subjects and failed to provide data subjects with lawfully requested informations.

Bedrijf: Niet-naleving van algemene principes voor gegevensverwerking.

Een boete van 20.000 euro - De Belgische Autoriteit voor gegevensbescherming (APD).

De Belgische autoriteit voor gegevensbescherming heeft een bedrijf een boete van 20.000 euro opgelegd. Het bedrijf is verantwoordelijk voor de verwerking van persoonsgegevens en is actief in direct marketing. Tijdens deze activiteiten heeft het bedrijf niet voldaan aan verschillende principes van gegevensverwerking. Met name had het bedrijf geen voldoende juridische basis voor de gegevensverwerking, heeft het de betrokkenen niet geïnformeerd en heeft het geen informatie verstrekt die rechtmatig was opgevraagd.

Hospital: Insufficient technical and organisational measures to ensure information security

€200,000 fine - Belgian Data Protection Authority (APD)

The Belgian DPA has fined a hospital EUR 200,000. The hospital had suffered a ransomware attack through a vulnerability in the server, which paralyzed parts of the computer system and affected about 300,000 individuals. During its investigation, the DPA found that the hospital had failed to carry out a data protection impact assessment. In addition, the DPA found that it did not have an adequate information security policy in place and failed to implement appropriate technical and organizational

Uber Technologies Inc., Uber B.V.: Non-compliance with general data processing principles

€290,000,000 fine - Dutch Supervisory Authority for Data Protection (AP)

The Dutch DPA has imposed a fine of EUR 290 million on Uber for transferring personal data of European drivers to the USA without sufficient privacy safeguards. The DPA launched an investigation after 170 French drivers filed complaints with the 'Ligue des droits de l'Homme'. The DPA's investigation revealed that Uber had stored sensitive personal data—such as location information, payment details, identity documents, and health data—on US servers without adequate safeguards for over two years.

Clearview AI Inc.: Non-compliance with general data processing principles

€30,500,000 fine - Dutch Supervisory Authority for Data Protection (AP)

The Dutch DPA has fined Clearview Al Inc. EUR 30,500,000. Clearview, a company offering facial recognition services, holds a database of over 30 billion images, including those of Dutch citizens. These images are scraped from publicly available online platforms, such as social media. Clearview uses these images to create biometric profiles, allowing individuals to be identified. During its investigation the DPA found that the personal data contained in the company's database had been processed u

Voorschoten municipality: Non-compliance with general data processing principles

€30,000 fine - Dutch Supervisory Authority for Data Protection (AP)

The Dutch DPA has imposed a fine of EUR 30,000 on Voorschoten municipality. The municipality had kept information about household waste for longer than necessary and had not sufficiently informed residents. In 2018 and 2019, the municipality of Voorschoten had replaced the waste garbage cans for houses and the underground containers for apartments. These bins were fitted with chips with numbers that were linked to a house address. The aim was to increase the collection of separate waste by limit

Belgian Order of Pharmacists: Non-compliance with general data processing principles

€30,000 fine - Belgian Data Protection Authority (APD)

The Belgian DPA has imposed a fine of EUR 30,000 on the Belgian Order of Pharmacists. The controller had conducted disciplinary proceedings against the data subject (pharmacist). As part of the disciplinary proceedings, the controller had collected personal data from the data subject in their personnel file. During its investigation, the DPA found that the controller had violated principles of data processing according to the GDPR in this context. For example, the DPA found that storing informat

Dutch Tax and Customs Administration: Non-compliance with general data processing principles

€3,700,000 fine - Dutch Supervisory Authority for Data Protection (AP)

The Dutch DPA has imposed a fine of EUR 3,7 million on the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration. This is the highest fine ever imposed by the Dutch DPA As part of its investigation, the DPA found a number of violations of the GDPR. The Tax and Customs Administration had kept a list for several years on which it recorded indications of fraud. The list contained information on over 270,000 individuals, including minors. The administration had processed personal data such as health, citizenship, an

Company: Insufficient fulfilment of data subjects rights

€7,500 fine - Belgian Data Protection Authority (APD)

The Belgian DPA has imposed a fine of EUR 7,500 on a company. A former managing director had filed a complaint against the company with the DPA. In the context of being dismissed, the former managing director deleted all data on the work laptop before handing over the technical equipment. According to the managing director, only the private data, such as the private e-mail inbox, had been deleted. However, the company stated that the managing director had deleted both private and work-related da

IAB Europe: Insufficient legal basis for data processing

Belgian Data Protection Authority (APD)

The Belgian DPA has imposed a fine of EUR 250,000 on IAB Europe. The DPA had received several complaints against IAB Europe since 2019. In the context of this complaint, the compliance of the 'Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF)' with the GDPR was mainly questioned. The TCF was developed by IAB to promote compliance with the GDPR by organizations using the OpenRTB protocol. The OpenRTB protocol is a protocol for 'real-time bidding,' which is the automated online auction of user profiles for t

EU DisinfoLab: Non-compliance with general data processing principles

€2,800 fine - Belgian Data Protection Authority (APD)

The Belgian DPA has fined the NGO EU DisinfoLab EUR 2,700. In 2018, the NGO published an analysis to identify the possible political origin of tweets circulating on a particularly heated controversy in France, the 'Benalla affair.' For the analysis, the organization had processed the data of 55,000 Twitter accounts, of which more than 3,300 had been classified as political. The raw data obtained from this was then published without taking minimal security precautions, such as pseudonymizing the

Researcher: Non-compliance with general data processing principles

€1,200 fine - Belgian Data Protection Authority (APD)

The Belgian DPA has fined a researcher EUR 1,200. The fine was issued in connection with another fine against the NGO EU DisinfoLab. The researcher was employed at the NGO. In 2018, the NGO published an analysis to identify the possible political origin of tweets circulating on a particularly heated controversy in France, the 'Benalla affair.' For the analysis, the organization had processed the data of 55,000 Twitter accounts, of which more than 3,300 had been classified as political. The raw d

Dutch Minister of Finance: Insufficient legal basis for data processing

€2,750,000 fine - Dutch Supervisory Authority for Data Protection (AP)

The Dutch DPA (AP) has fined the Minister of Finance EUR 2,75 million. In the context of childcare benefit applications, tax offices had processed data on the dual nationality of applicants for several years. However, the DPA found that the data on dual nationality of Dutch citizens would not have been necessary when assessing an application for childcare benefits. The said data had also been processed for the purpose of combating organized fraud and for automatic classification in the authority

Transavia: Insufficient technical and organisational measures to ensure information security

€400,000 fine - Dutch Supervisory Authority for Data Protection (AP)

The Dutch DPA has fined airline Transavia EUR 400,000. In 2019, the airline suffered a data breach, in which a hacker gained access to Transavia's systems through two accounts held by the company's IT department. This could have potentially allowed the hacker to access data such as names, dates of birth, gender, email addresses, phone numbers, flight information and booking numbers of 25 million passengers. It was found that the hacker actually downloaded the personal data of 83,000 people. In 3

UWV (Dutch employee insurance service provider): Insufficient technical and organisational measures to ensure information security

€450,000 fine - Dutch Supervisory Authority for Data Protection (AP)

The Dutch DPA (AP) has fined UWV (the Dutch employee insurance service provider - 'Uitvoeringsinstituut Werknemersverzekeringen) EUR 450,000. The UWV had not properly secured the sending of group messages via the 'My Workbook' environment. This is a personal environment on the UWV website where job seekers have contact with the UWV. As a result, there were multiple data leaks of personal information, including health information, from a total of more than 15,000 individuals.

School: Insufficient legal basis for data processing

€1,000 fine - Belgian Data Protection Authority (APD)

The Belgian DPA (APD) fined a school EUR 1,000. The controller had conducted a survey on student well-being via a smartschooling system. The DPA states that the controller did not obtain the consent of the parents of the minor students and violated the principle of data minimization. The original fine of EUR 2,000 was reduced to EUR 1,000 after the controller appealed the APD's decision.

Municipality of Enschede: Insufficient legal basis for data processing

€600,000 fine - Dutch Supervisory Authority for Data Protection (AP)

The Dutch DPA (AP) has fined the municipality of Enschede EUR 600,000. In 2017, the municipality decided to install special measurement boxes to measure crowds in the city center of Enschede. Sensors in the measurement boxes detected the wifi signals from the cell phones of passers-by and registered them with a code. Based on the registered codes, it was possible to calculate how busy the city center was. However, this also made it possible to track which measurement box a particular cell phone

Family Service / N.D.P.K. nv.: Insufficient legal basis for data processing

€50,000 fine - Belgian Data Protection Authority (APD)

The Belgian DPA imposed a fine of EUR 50,000 on Family Service / N.D.P.K. nv. The controller is an advertising agency that, among other things, sends expectant mothers gift boxes containing various discount vouchers, product samples and information about pregnancy and birth. The box items are provided by third parties, to whom the controller subsequently transfers the recipients' contact data for marketing purposes. The consent of the recipients to this transfer and to subsequent advertising mea

BELGIUM DPA: Insufficient fulfilment of data subjects rights

€50,000 fine - Belgian Data Protection Authority (APD)

The Belgian DPA (APD) imposed a fine of EUR 50,000 on a company for several violations of the GDPR. The controller is a company that carries out parking ticket controls. The controller controller had issued the data subject a fine for illegal parking. However, the data subject states that he or she did not receive the fine ticket. Instead, the data subject only found out about it when he or she received an official reminder letter from a law firm commissioned with debt collection, which then dem

Locatefamily.com: Non-compliance with general data processing principles

€525,000 fine - Dutch Supervisory Authority for Data Protection (AP)

The Dutch DPA (AP) has imposed a fine of EUR 525,000 on Locatefamily.com. Locatefamily.com is a platform where people can search for the contact information of family members they have lost contact with or other people they would like to get in touch with. The data subjects complained that their contact information (name, address, phone number) was published on the website without their knowledge. The data subjects were not able to request the deletion of their data published on the site easily,

BELGIUM DPA: Non-compliance with general data processing principles

€1,500 fine - Belgian Data Protection Authority (APD)

The Belgian DPA (APD/GBA) imposed a fine of EUR 1,500 on a social housing company for non-compliance with several principles of the GDPR such as data processing as well as the principles of legality and transparency (e.g. insufficient privacy policy, lack of information on camera surveillance).

Communal political association: Insufficient legal basis for data processing

€3,000 fine - Belgian Data Protection Authority (APD)

A local political association has sent out election advertisements to the residents of the municipality for the local elections in 2018. For this purpose, the association used the electoral roll from 2012 and compared it with that of 2018, without a sufficient legal basis and without appropriate information in accordance with Art. 14 GDPR.

Google Belgium SA: Insufficient fulfilment of data subjects rights

€600,000 fine - Belgian Data Protection Authority (APD)

The Belgian data protection authority has fined Google Belgium SA, a subsidiary of Google, 600,000 euros. The reasons for the fine were the rejection of an application by a data subject for dereferencing outdated articles that the data subject had considered to be damaging to its reputation, and lack of transparency in Google's form for dereferencing applications. The Belgian data protection authority found that articles relating to unfounded harassment complaints could have serious consequences

PVV Overijssel: Insufficient fulfilment of data breach notification obligations

€7,500 fine - Dutch Supervisory Authority for Data Protection (AP)

The Dutch DPA (AP) fined the Overijssel local branch of the PVV party EUR 7,500 for failing to notify the AP of a personal data breach, in violation of Art. 33 GDPR. An email regarding the convening of a meeting had been sent via an open distribution list due to a human error. Since the total of 101 recipients were addressed as 'Friends of the PVV' in the email, the political beliefs of the data subjects were thus disclosed to all addressees.

Municipal employee: Insufficient legal basis for data processing

€5,000 fine - Belgian Data Protection Authority (APD)

In the context of a municipal election in 2018, the data controller had sent election advertisements to a group of employees of the same municipal administration, unlawfully using a list of contact data to which he had no access.

Municipal alderman: Insufficient legal basis for data processing

€5,000 fine - Belgian Data Protection Authority (APD)

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

Menzis (Health Insurance Company): Non-compliance with general data processing principles

€50,000 fine - Dutch Supervisory Authority for Data Protection (AP)

Marketing staff had access to patient data. Among other things, this violated the purpose limitation principle.

Merchant: Non-compliance with general data processing principles

€10,000 fine - Belgian Data Protection Authority (APD)

The Belgian data protection authority has imposed a fine of 10,000 euros on a merchant who wanted to use an electronic identity card (eID) to create a customer card. The DPA's investigation revealed that the merchant required access to personal data located on the eID, including the photo and barcode which is linked to the data subject's identification number. In the meantime, the decision of the data protection authority has been annulled by a court: link