Some of the procedures that EU institutions put in place pose risks to the data protection rights and freedoms of individuals.
Under the old legal framework (Regulation (EC) 45/2001), EU institutions were obliged to notify us before putting in place risky data processing operations.
In general, our prior checking Opinions were public.
Regulation 2018/1725 builds on the old Regulation and mirrors the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR) that applies to most organisations processing personal data in the Member States. Compared to the previous rules, Regulation 2018/1725 aligns documentation obligations more closely to the risks caused by processing personal data. This means for example that the documentation requirements for a EUI’s newsletter subscription will be lower than for a system using ‘intelligent CCTV’ covering publicly accessible space or a database profiling travellers for screening purposes.
Depending on the process at hand, EU institutions processing personal data ('controllers') may not have to go through all the steps below (these steps are described in the Accountability on the ground toolkit):
• Generate basic documentation (called ‘records’) for all processes;
• Check if the process is likely to result in high risks to the people whose data are processed and consult the DPO if it appears to do so;
• If the EU institution needs to do a data protection impact assessment (DPIA), they analyse those risks in more detail and develop specific safeguards/controls to manage them;
• If the results of the DPIA still indicate high residual data protection risks, the EU institution has to file a prior consultation with the EDPS (see Articles 40 and 90 of Regulation 2018/1725 respectively for administrative and operational personal data).
Article 39 of Regulation 2016/794 on Europol provides for an ad hoc prior consultation mechanism for new type of processing of operational data, namely data processed by Europol to support the Member States in preventing and combating serious crime and terrorism. Similarly, Article 72 of Regulation 2017/1939 on the European Public Prosecutor Office (EPPO) provides a specific prior consultation mechanism for the processing of operational data, namely data processed in the context of criminal investigations and prosecutions undertaken by the EPPO. Regulation 2018/1725, including the standard prior consultation mechanism, applies to Europol's and EPPO's processing of administrative data, which includes data on staff and visitors, for example.
Where an EU institution is unsure whether to notify us a data processing operation for prior consultation, their DPO can consult us for advice to confirm.
As for the old prior checking Opinions, in general the prior consultation Opinions are public, but we may delete sensitive elements where necessary, related to security for example. Some opinions, which are by nature sensitive, in particular in the police and justice area, may not be published. For the sake of transparency, these Opinions are summarised in our Annual Report.
Prior-check Opinion on "administrative inquiries and disciplinary proceedings" at European Institute of Technology & Innovation (EIT) (Case 2016-1165)
The EU High Level Advisers programme in Moldova aims to draw on the experience of expert senior officials in EU Member States to help Moldova meet its commitments related to agreements with the EU. The programme is run by the Commission and the EU Delegation in Moldova. A service provider helps to implement the programme in Moldova. The candidate High Level Advisers are selected by the Commission and the Delegation and after the endorsement by Moldovan authorities are recruited by the service provider. In consultation with the Moldovan authorities, the service provider annually evaluates the High Level Advisers on their performance. Following this, the Delegation decides whether to extend the High Level Advisers' contracts. All this entails the processing of personal data by the Commission, the Delegation, the service provider and Moldovan authorities.
The Commission and the Delegation are the co-controllers for the processing of personal data in the High Level Advisers programme and need to clearly define their respective obligations. They should also set up a framework for exchanging the personal data of candidate and recruited High Level Advisers with the Moldovan authorities. The Delegation needs to clarify their respective data protection obligations with the service provider. The candidate and recruited High Level Advisers need to be properly informed about how their personal data is processed in the EU High Level Advisers programme in Moldova.
Notification on the selection and recruitment of temporary agents, contract agents and seconded national experts at EIOPA (case 2013-0541)
Ex-post Prior Checking Opinion on the procedure for identifying, dealing with and remedying cases of professional incompetence (Case 2017-0489)
Prior-checking Opinion regarding the activities of the EEAS’ medical service (EDPS case 2016-0780)