Are national Parliaments subject to the GDPR? Yes, says the CJEU, they are: Case C-272/19 VK v Land Hessen (EU:C:2020:535). The reference to a “public authority” within the definition of “controller” in Article 4(7) GDPR was capable of including the Petitions Committee of the State Parliament, and the CJEU noted that there was no exception in Article 23 for legislative bodies. Continue reading
Public Authorities under the EIR: Fishing for Clarity
Is a private registered provider of social housing, a housing association, a public authority within the meaning of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 and the Fish Legal line of authority (on which see here re the CJEU and here re the UT)? In Information Commissioner v Poplar Housing Association and Regeneration Community Association [2020] UKUT 182 (AAC) (ICO v Poplar Housing), Farbey J (CP) agreed with the First-tier Tribunal that it was not. Continue reading
FOIA Appeals and Enforcement: Who has the Power?
When the First-tier Tribunal decides an information rights appeal and finds in favour of the requestor, who has the responsibility for enforcing any non-compliance with that judgment? Is it the FTT, or is the Information Commissioner? In an interesting judgment of Judge Jacobs in Moss v Information Commissioner & Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames [2020] UKUT 174 (AAC), the Upper Tribunal has held that it is the FTT. Continue reading
A Rolling Stone Gathers No Anonymity
We previously noted on this blog the useful discussion in D v Information Commissioner [2018] UKUT 441 (AAC) of the principles applicable to the anonymity of parties in information rights appeals. But who, no-one asked us, was D? Well, it turns out on appeal that the answer is: Moss v Information Commissioner [2020] EWCA Civ 580. Ta dah! Continue reading
ZXC v Bloomberg: privacy expectations about criminal investigations
The Court of Appeal has today given judgment in the long-running ZXC v Bloomberg litigation ([2020] EWCA Civ 611). The key points:
- In general, a person does have a reasonable expectation of privacy about the fact that/details of their being subject to a police investigation, up to the point of charge.
- Reporting about alleged conduct is different from reporting about a criminal investigation into that conduct.
NewsFlash: International Transfers Decision Coming Soon(ish)
The CJEU has announced that judgment will be handed down in Case C-311/18, Data Protection Commissioner v Facebook Ireland & Schrems on 16 July 2020. The judgment directly concerns the legality of standard contractual clauses in the context of transfers of personal data to the USA, and is also likely to comment on the validity of the Privacy Shield adequacy decision (which came under heavy fire at the hearing) and the role of data protection supervisory authorities in relation to international transfers. The Advocate General’s Opinion was issued in December: (EU:C:2019:1145).
Christopher Knight