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Opinions Prior Check and Prior Consultations

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.

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13
Feb
2007
Opinions Prior Check and Prior Consultations

Use of office telephones - European Central Bank

Opinion of 13 February 2007 on a notification for prior checking on Investigation procedures regarding the use of office telephones (Case 2004-271)

The rules of the ECB as concerns the use of the telephone and fax equipment are provided for in an administrative circular. Members of staff are entitled to make personal calls but these must be declared for billing according to a system of call charging facility by introducing a PIN code. The circular establishes a procedure for investigation procedures on the use of office phones (Call Charging Facility Investigation Procedures) which can be triggered either when there is a disagreement with the content of itemised private call listing or disagreement with content of business calls statistics.If, having assessed the situation, there are grounds to suspect misconduct on the part of a member(s) of staff, further disciplinary measures can be taken, but these were not the object of the present prior check.
 

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.

Available languages: English, French
Topics
Artificial Intelligence
Privacy in the EU Institutions
2
Feb
2007
Opinions Prior Check and Prior Consultations

Recruitment procedure - Community Plant Variety Office

Opinion of 2 February 2007 on a notification for prior checking on recruitment procedure (Case 2006-351)
Les procédures de recrutement visant à évaluer les aspects personnels des candidats font l'objet d'un contrôle préalable du CEPD en vertu de l'article 27, paragraphe 2, du règlement. La première notification de contrôle préalable adressée par l'Office communautaire des variétés végétales (OCVV) portait sur la procédure de recrutement et sur le mode de gestion des candidatures spontanées. La base juridique du traitement se trouve dans le statut du personnel (articles 27 à 34) et, la participation à la procédure de recrutement n'étant pas obligatoire, dans l'article 5, point d), du règlement (consentement de la personne concernée). Dans ses recommandations, le CEPD a marqué son accord sur le fait que les candidats invités à un entretien puissent être tenus de produire un extrait de casier judiciaire ou un document équivalent, afin de démontrer qu'ils jouissent de tous leurs droits en tant que citoyens, comme l'exige le statut du personnel. Parallèlement, il a recommandé que certaines questions figurant dans le formulaire de candidature type ne requièrent plus obligatoirement une réponse (activités sociales ou sportives, raisons pour lesquelles le candidat a quitté ses emplois précédents, par exemple). Le CEPD a marqué son accord sur les périodes de conservation appliquées par l'OCVV, à savoir cinq ans en cas de candidature "normale" et deux ans pour les candidatures spontanées

Available languages: English, French
Topics
Privacy in the EU Institutions
Recruitment
18
Jan
2007
Opinions Prior Check and Prior Consultations

Incompetence - Court of Auditors

Opinion of 18 January 2007 on the notification for prior checking regarding the "maintaining professional standards in cases of incompetence" file (Case 2006-534)

The Court of Auditors has agreed on a draft Decision on the maintaining of professional standards (in cases of incompetence). The Decision sets up the accompanying programme, the reports produced after the programme has been followed and the final decision taken by the Appointing Authority in cases where an official of the Court of Auditors is considered to be professionally incompetent, following an annual appraisal report drafted in accordance with Article 43 of the Staff Regulations which, having been finalised, shows that the official concerned needs to make major improvements in at least one of his or her competencies.

The EDPS has analysed the processing before the establishment of this draft Decision by the Court of Auditors, since it could lead to some personal aspects relating to staff members being evaluated. The main recommendations concern the information that must be provided to staff members and data retention time limits.

Available languages: English, French
Topics
Privacy in the EU Institutions
Staff Evaluation