The transfer of personal data outside of the EU is only allowed under certain conditions as set out in Directive 95/46/EC and also in the General Data Protection Regulation which will be fully applicable as of May 2018. If a country is deemed by the European Commission to offer an adequate level of protection, it will be subject to the same rules as an EU Member State, which means that the recipient of the data in that state will not be obliged to take specific measures to allow for the transfer. Transferring data to a country without an adequacy decision requires appropriate safeguards, such as standard contractual clauses or binding corporate rules. Derogations to this rule can be obtained in very specific cases. The European Data Protection Board, of which the EDPS is a member, will provide the Commission with Opinions on this subject.
EDPS Decision pursuant to Article 9(7) of Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 concerning the transfers of personal data carried out by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) to the World Health Organization (WHO) (Case 2017-1120)
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.
In the September 2017 edition of the EDPS Newsletter we cover the EDPS Opinion on the digital single gateway, the investigation of complaints relating to medical data and the latest developments in privacy engineering.
EDPS Opinion on the proposal for a Regulation establishing a single digital gateway and the ‘once-only’ principle
Prior check opinion on the notification of the OIB’s "360° tool - feedback and leadership competencies” (Case 2016-1130 / DPO-3868.1)
The Office for Infrastructure and Logistics in Brussels (OIB) has a development programme for managers using a 360° feedback tool. Managers participate on a voluntary basis in the exercise, in which their staff members, peers and superiors who agree to give feedback get to rate the manager. This allows managers to obtain anonymous feedback on their management and leadership style and to improve their management and leadership skills.
Two external providers cooperate with OIB in this exercise: a subcontractor collects individual evaluation responses per line manager through an online questionnaire and automatically generates reports; the contractor provides for individual coaching sessions to the managers. The specific roles and tasks of these two processors should be are clearly mentioned in the data protection statement. The subcontractor’s data centre is located in the United Kingdom. Forwardlooking, the EDPS highlights that future transfers might come under Article 9 of the Regulation requiring an adequate level of protection within the recipient's legal framework for transfers to third countries. In this issue, see pp.12-13 of EDPS Position paper on transfers to third countries and international organisations by EU institutions and bodies.