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Other entity

In our supervisory role, we are only competent for processing by the EU institutions, bodies and agencies subject to Regulation 2018/1725.

If you want to complaint about the processing of personal data by other entities such as companies, national/regional/local public authorities or not-for-profit organisations, the relevant national data protection authorities will be able to help you instead.

We are also not competent to supervise the processing of personal data by international organisations other than the EU institutions, bodies and agencies.

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Every Member State of the European Union has at least one data protection authority supervising private and public controllers in its jurisdiction.
The EDPS does not have the authority to investigate complaints against controllers at the national level, such as companies or national public administrations. Our supervisory competences only cover processing by EU institutions, bodies and agencies.

Please continue below:

[A Public authority] I want to complain about a public authority, for example my country's police, a court, the population register, a public school etc.

This covers cases such as for example:

  • "A public authority is collecting more data about me than it is allowed to."
  • "I applied for a Schengen visa and the consulate told me it has been denied, but I don't know why."
  • "I believe the police are listening in on my phone line - what can I do?"
  • “I submitted a complaint to my national data protection authority and am not happy with their follow-up.”

[B Private organisation] I want to complain about another organisation, such as a company, a not-for-profit organisation, a church, a labour union etc.

This covers cases such as for example:

  • "A company has given my data to direct marketers although I told them not to."
  • "I asked to be removed from a charity organisation's mailing list and they keep sending me messages."
  • "I asked a search engine provider to delist a website when searching for my name ('right to be forgotten'), but they refused."
  • “A social network app on my phone demands permissions that I think are excessive.”

[C International Organisation] I want to complain about an international organisation other than the EU.

This covers cases such as for example:

  • "Interpol does not tell me if it has information about me."
  • "I work at NATO and my human resources department asks me things I think they have no business knowing."