EU data protection directive improperly implemented in Austria and Germany, says European Commission

The European Commission has recently launched infringement procedures against Austria and Germany for failure to properly implement the EU data protection directive adopted in October 1995.

All EU Member States have now transposed Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, often referred to as the ‘data protection directive’. However, according to the Commission, Germany and Austria have implemented the legislation in a way that does not guarantee the independence of their data protection authorities. This is in breach of article 28 of the directive, which requires that data protection bodies be completely independent from government.

In Germany, 17 different bodies have been set up to monitor compliance with data privacy laws by the private sector (one at federal level and one in each of the 16 Länder), but it has been reported that in several German states those authorities include government officials or civil servants. A similar situation exists in Austria, although the government has only created a single, national Data Protection Commission.

In addition to launching legal action against the German and Austrian governments in July 2005, the Commission is understood to be currently closely examining the ways in which the remaining 23 Member States have implemented the directive. «This is the first such action, I do not believe that it will be the last. We have heard that the European Commission has spoken with a few other Member States regarding their implementation and that more suits are likely», commented Miriam Wugmeister, a lawyer at Morrison & Foerster.

© European Communities 2005 Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. The views expressed are not an official position of the European Commission.

eGovernment News - 13 September 2005 - Austria/Germany - Legal aspects