In a decision handed down on December 1, 2021, the Brussels Market Court (Court of Appeal) had an opportunity to consider the GDPR right of access. The Belgian Ministry of Finance appealed the Belgian Supervisory Authority’s recent decision requiring the Ministry to grant a complainant access to her financial file and make corrections to the
Belgium
Belgian Supervisory Authority Launches Public Consultation on the Use of Biometric Data
On July 15, 2021, the Belgian Supervisory Authority (“SA”) released a 40-page draft recommendation on the use of biometric data and launched a public consultation to solicit feedback about it.
Most notably, the SA points out that there is no valid legal basis other than explicit consent (with all the GDPR limitations attached to it) that would enable the processing of biometric data for authentication purposes (e.g., security), because Belgian lawmakers failed to adopt the required national legislation to supplement the GDPR (specifically, to underpin the public interest exception found in Art. 9(2)(g) GDPR for processing sensitive personal data). The SA considers this outcome a departure from the rules that applied prior to the GDPR, and will therefore allow a one-year grace period to give controllers and lawmakers sufficient time to address the issue.…
Supervisory Authorities Cannot Circumvent One-Stop-Shop According to CJEU Advocate General
On January 13, 2021, the Advocate General (“AG”), Michal Bobek, of the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) issued his Opinion in Case C-645/19 Facebook Ireland Limited, Facebook Inc., Facebook Belgium BVBA v. the Belgian Data Protection Authority (“Belgian DPA”). The AG determined that the one-stop shop mechanism under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) prevents supervisory authorities, who are not the lead supervisory authority (“LSA”) of a controller or processor, from bringing proceedings before their national court, except in limited and exceptional cases specifically provided for by the GDPR. The case will now move to the CJEU for a final judgment.
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Belgian Supervisory Authority Issues Guidance on Data Protection and Coronavirus
On March 13, 2020, the Belgian data protection authority (“APD”) issued guidance on data protection and COVID-19. The guidance is mainly aimed at employers processing personal data of employees in the context of the measures they have taken to contain the spreading of COVID-19.
The guidance is divided in the following three parts:
- legal basis for processing data;
- other data protection principles; and
- frequently asked questions about the processing of employee health data by employers.
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Belgian Government Calls for EU Data Protection Authority
By Kristof Van Quathem on
Posted in European Union, International
On Wednesday, January 28, 2015, better known as “Data Protection Day,” the Belgian Under-Secretary for Data Protection Bart Tommelein called for the creation of an EU Data Protection Authority. He intends to present this position of the Belgian Government to the informal meeting of Ministers of Justice and of the Interior in Riga (Latvia). The…