Hearings of the Commissioners-designate - Parliament
Opinion of 3 July 2009 on a notification for prior checking on the processing of personal data in the hearings of the Commissioners-designate (Case 2009-0332)
On 3 July 2009, the EDPS issued a prior checking opinion focusing on the processing of personal data in the hearings at the European Parliament of the Commissioners-designate.
During the hearings, the appropriate committee or committees shall invite the Commissioner-designate to make a statement and answer questions. The hearings shall be organised in such a way as to enable Commissioners-designate to disclose to Parliament all relevant information. All hearings will be web-streamed on the website of the EP. An indexed video recording of the hearings shall be made available for the public record within twenty-four hours. All CVs and additional documents will be part of the meeting documents of the committee and published on the EP website and available in the meeting room. The period of conservation of the data is five years. The data are subsequently transmitted to the central archives (CARDOC) for indefinite conservation.
In his opinion, the EDPS underlined that data could be kept after the initial conservation period for historical purposes, but that there should be a selection and verification process on the basis of criteria determined at an institutional level so as to only retain data of historical value. Appropriate safeguards must be put into place to ensure that the data kept on the basis of their historical value are not processed for any other purposes or used in support of measures or decisions regarding a particular individual. As for data which, after selection, are not considered as of historical value, they may only be stored for longer than the initial 5 year period of retention, if they are made anonymous or, if this is not possible, with the identity of the data subjects encrypted. Furthermore, although the Commissioners-designate are probably aware of the public nature of the data provided and the fact that the hearings will be made public notably through web-streaming, in order to ensure fairness of the processing further information could be provided on this in the Privacy statement. The EDPS also invited the Parliament to ensure that the integrity of the data transmitted from the Council is respected.