IP - 07121-1/2021/517

IP - 07121-1/2021/517
Authority:	IP (Slovenia)
Jurisdiction:	Slovenia
Relevant Law:	Article 55(3) GDPR
Type:	Advisory Opinion
Outcome:	n/a
Started:
Decided:	17.03.2021
Published:	17.03.2021
Fine:	None
Parties:	n/a
National Case Number/Name:	07121-1/2021/517
European Case Law Identifier:	n/a
Appeal:	n/a
Original Language(s):	Slovenian
Original Source:	IP (in SL)
Initial Contributor:	GDPR plus

The Slovenian DPA (IP) stated that, when courts process personal data as an judicial authority, the IP is not competent under Article 55(3) GDPR.

English Summary

Facts

The court did not grant the party to the proceedings access to the court file. Therefore, the person turned to the IP for help.

Holding

Since the question concerns the processing of personal data by courts when they act as judicial authorities, it must be concluded that this is a type of processing for which IP is not competent under Article 55(3) of the General Regulation.

Comment

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English Machine Translation of the Decision

The decision below is a machine translation of the Slovenian original. Please refer to the Slovenian original for more details.

The Information Commissioner (hereinafter IP) has received your request for comments to the effect that the Tribunal is denying you access to a particular case file.

Based on the information you have provided, pursuant to Article 58 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data Directive 95/46 / EC (General Regulation on Data Protection; hereinafter the General Regulation), point 7 of the first paragraph of Article 49 of the Personal Data Protection Act (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, no. 94/07; hereinafter ZVOP-1) and Article 2 of the Information Commissioner Act (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 113/05 et seq.; hereinafter ZInfP) our non-binding opinion on your question. At the same time, the ZInfP emphasizes that it cannot assess the concrete processing of personal data outside the control procedure.

According to the second indent of Article 2(1) of the ZInfP, the IP is responsible for the inspection control of the implementation of the Act and other regulations on the protection or processing of personal data or the export of personal data from the Republic of Slovenia. It should be noted that the General Regulation states in the introductory recitals that the competence of supervisory authorities should not cover the processing of personal data when courts act as judicial bodies in order to protect the independence of the judiciary, including decision-making (introductory recital 20.) ) and that each supervisory authority should be competent on the territory of its Member State to exercise the powers and perform the tasks conferred on it by the general Regulation (introductory recital 122). This is reflected in Article 55 of the General Regulation, which sets out the powers of the supervisory authorities. According to Article 55(3) of the General Regulation, supervisory authorities are not competent to supervise judicial processing operations when acting as judicial authorities.

Since your question concerns the processing of personal data by courts when they act as judicial authorities, it must be concluded that this is a type of processing for which IP is not competent under Article 55(3) of the General Regulation.

Moreover, IP adds that the procedural rules according to which the court hears and decides in disputes arising from personal and family relations, as well as in disputes arising from property and other civil relations of natural and legal persons, unless one of these disputes falls within the competence of a specialized court or other body, are determined by the Civil Procedure Act (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 73/07 et seq.; hereinafter ZPP). Article 150 of the ZPP provides that the parties have the right to inspect and transcribe the case file to which they are a party (first paragraph). Other persons who have a legitimate interest may be permitted to inspect and transcribe individual files. During the ongoing proceedings, the President of the Senate allows this, and after its termination, the President or the head of the court or a person of the court designated by him (paragraph 2). If you believe that an irregularity has occurred in your case, you can protect your rights by legal means under a particular court procedure.