Time Management - Commission
Opinion of 29 March 2007 on the notification for prior checking on "SYSPER 2 : Time Management Module" (Case 2007-63)
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.
Opinion of 29 March 2007 on the notification for prior checking on "SYSPER 2 : Time Management Module" (Case 2007-63)
Opinion of 26 March 2007 on "follow-up" data processing operations (disciplinary, administrative, judicial, financial) (Cases 2006-544, 2006-545, 2006-546, 2006-547)
The four data processing operations concern the processing of personal data that takes place within the third stage of OLAF investigations, the so called "follow-up phase". In this phase, OLAF's follow-up team carries out various activities entailing the processing of persona data which are designed to ensure that the competent Community and/or national authorities have executed the measures recommended by OLAF. The nature of the measures may be administrative, disciplinary, financial or judicial.
Opinion of 23 March 2007 on the notification for prior checking regarding EFSA's pre-employment and annual medical check-ups (Case 2006-365)
Opinion of 20 March 2007 on a notification for prior checking on the "annual exercise for early retirement without reduction of pension rights" dossier (Case 2006-577)
Dans le cadre de ses recommandations, le CEPD a notamment souligné que la Commission reconsidère que seulement la liste finale, relevant les personnes qui vont finalement bénéficier de la retraite anticipée, soit publiée au sein des Informations administratives de l'institution et que les candidats soient informés des données qui vont être publiées. Quant à la conservation des données, le CEPD a recommandé que la Commission informe le CEPD si une pérennisation des rapports d'évaluation a éventuellement lieu tous les 5 ans et, dans un cas contraire, reconsidère la période de conservation et en informe le CEPD.
Opinion of 26 February 2007 on a notification for prior checking on investigation procedures regarding the use of mobile telephones (Case 2004-272)
The EDPS has issued an opinion on this procedure which concludes that on a general basis the procedure complies with the principles established in the data protection regulation. However the EDPS did make some recommendations mainly as concerns the conservation periods for storing the data and information on the processing of personal data to be included in the administrative circular. The circular is currently in the process of modification and will reflect these recommendations accordingly. The EDPS also recommended that should the data be used for statistical purposes, the reference to the phone number should be removed from the monthly reports.