On 24 January 2023, the Italian Supervisory Authority (“Garante”) announced it fined three hospitals in the amount of 55,000 EUR each for their unlawful use an artificial intelligence (“AI”) system for risk stratification purposes, i.e., to systematically categorize patients based on their health status. The Garante also ordered the hospitals to erase all the data they obtained as a consequence of that unlawful processing.
The New Italian Sunshine Act Introduces Mandatory Individual Disclosure With Implied Consent Mechanism For Transfers Of Value
On 31 May 2022, the Italian Parliament approved Law 62/2022, also known as the Sunshine Act, which entered into force on 26 June 2022. The new rules will become fully operational once the Ministry of Health sets up the public database where companies will have to disclose their data. In practice, this means the new
Italian Garante Bans Use of Google Analytics
On June 23, 2022 the Italian data protection authority (“Garante”) released a general statement (here) flagging the unlawfulness of data transfers to the U.S. resulting from the use of Google Analytics. The Garante invites all Italian website operators, both public and private, to verify that the use of cookies and other tracking tools
European Parliament Agrees Draft Digital Services Act
On January 20, 2022, the European Parliament agreed amendments to the draft version of the Digital Services Act (“DSA”) that the Council agreed on November 25, 2021(see the European Parliament’s announcement here and agreed text here; see our blog post about the Council’s draft here). As a next step, the Parliament will discuss these
New Italian Guidelines on the Use of Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies Now in Force
On January 9, 2022, the cookie guidelines (“guidelines”) published by the Italian Supervisory Authority (“Garante”) on July 9, 2021 entered into force. This means that all those companies that have not yet conformed to the guidelines’ provisions should do so promptly, to avoid incurring in future sanctions. The guidelines include precise indications on, e.g., the categorization of cookies and other tracking technologies (“cookies”), the recommended design of the cookie banners, the collection, review and renewal of consent, and on the information notices.
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Italian Supervisory Authority Fines Foodinho Over Its Use of Performance Management Algorithms
On July 5, 2021, the Italian Supervisory Authority (“Garante”) announced that it has fined Foodinho S.r.l. (“Foodinho”) 2.6 million EUR for its use of performance algorithms in connection with its employees. The authority held Foodinho in breach of the principles of transparency, security, privacy by default and by design, and held it responsible for not implementing suitable measures to safeguard its employees’ (i.e., riders’) rights and freedoms against discriminatory automated decision making. The Garante’s decision is the first of its kind in the realm of the algorithmic management of gig workers. According to the Garante, Foodinho’s management violated Article 22(3) of the GDPR.
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Italian Supervisory Authority Fines Physician for Secondary Use of Patient Data Without Specific Consent
On May 19, 2021, the Italian Supervisory Authority (“Garante”) fined a physician €5,000 for publishing a patient’s medical records without obtaining that patient’s specific consent to do so. As background, the physician downloaded medical records about a patient she treated at a local hospital from the hospital’s online archive system, including images taken during surgery. The physician used these records for a presentation at a medical conference, and also included them as documentation supporting a scientific research paper she submitted for a competition hosted by a surgeons’ association. The physician’s paper was ultimately selected as the winner of that competition, resulting in the publication of her work on the association’s website.
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