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On 23 November 2020, the District Court of Midden-Nederland (Rechtbank Midden-Nederland - the Court) annulled the decision of the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens - DDPA) to impose a EUR 575 000 administrative fine on VoetbalTV, a streaming platform for amateur football. Most importantly, the Court found that the DDPA had erred, ruling that the commercial processing of personal data does not categorically exclude a legitimate interest in that processing under the General Data Protection Regulation (Algemene Verordening Gegevensbescherming - GDPR). Following a regulatory...

The Standing Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), which acts on the Assembly’s behalf between plenary sessions, met successively on 12 and 13 October 2020, then on 22 and 23 October 2020, by videoconference. An important topic discussed at these meetings concerned the measures restricting human rights taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. While states of emergency may allow for a more rapid and effective response to a major health crisis, they can also be hazardous from the perspective of human rights, democracy and the rule of law, posing risks...

On 4 September 2020, the Rechtbank Amsterdam (District Court of Amsterdam) delivered an important judgment on the lawfulness of allegations contained in an investigative crime programme which targeted a private individual. The court laid down notable principles on the requisite factual basis for reporting serious allegations and on the use of hidden-camera footage by broadcasters, which has also been the subject of other recent rulings (see IRIS 2020-8/4). The case arose in January 2018, when the commercial broadcaster SBS6 broadcast an episode of its investigative programme Moord of zelfmoord...

In a report published on 15 September 2020, the Wissenschaftliche Dienst (research office) of the German Bundestag (lower house of parliament) noted that parts of the new law on combating right-wing extremism and hate crime were unconstitutional. The report raises concerns about the constitutionality of the law’s provisions on obligations to hand over deleted content and IP addresses to German prosecution authorities. It comes after the German Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court) recently declared current rules on the disclosure of inventory data unconstitutional. The...

On 24 September and 8 October 2020, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the United Kingdom's independent body established to uphold information rights, imposed fines on two companies for sending thousands of nuisance marketing texts and unlawful marketing emails at the height of the current pandemic. In September 2020, Digital Growth Experts Limited (DGEL) was issued with a monetary penalty of GBP 60 000 in relation to a serious contravention of Regulations 22 and 23 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 (PECR). The PECR provide for specific...