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Exemption from the Provision of Information for Electioneering Purposes 7 February 2001 [1125573]

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[doc. web. n. 1125573]

[versione italianadoc. web. n. 40967]

 

Exemption from the Provision of Information for Electioneering Purposes
(G.U. n. 36 del 13 febbraio 2001)

The Garante per la protezione dei dati personali

In the meeting held on this day, with the participation of Professor Stefano Rodotà, President, Professor Giuseppe Santaniello, Deputy-President, Professor Ugo De Siervo and Mr. Claudio Manganelli, Members, and Mr. Giovanni Buttarelli, Secretary-General;

Whereas political information and propaganda initiatives contribute significantly to democratic participation in election polls; whereas such initiatives are undertaken by many candidates and political groups in order to inform on their respective positions;

Noting that a considerable amount of personal data are used at both national and local level simultaneously for a limited period in connection with the above election purposes, and that these data are taken from public registries, lists, instruments or publicly available documents such as, in particular, the electoral rolls of municipalities and telephone subscribers´ directories;

Having regard to the many reports and requests for opinion submitted to this Authority in respect of the lawful and fair use of the personal data processed for sending out electoral and political communications;

Having regard to Article 10(3) of Act no. 675/1996, providing that "Whenever personal data are not collected from the data subject, the information as per para. 1 shall be provided to the data subject at the time of recording such data or, if their disclosure is envisaged, no later than the time when the data are first disclosed.";

Whereas the above provision requires any entity using personal data from the aforementioned public sources to provide information to all the relevant data subjects at the time of recording the data except where the data are processed in compliance with a legal obligation (see Article 10(4) of Act no. 675/1996);

Whereas the above information should be provided irrespective of the fact that all the data taken from the aforementioned public sources are actually used for political information and propaganda purposes;

Whereas in the short period preceding the forthcoming elections a huge number of data subjects can be expected to receive a considerable amount of information sheets with the same contents on account of the temporary use of their publicly available data;

Having regard to Article 10(4) of Act no 675/1996, stipulating that Article 10(3) "shall not apply where the provision of information to the data subject involves an effort which is declared by the Garante to be manifestly disproportionate as compared with the right that is to be protected";

Having regard to the provision issued by this Authority on 26 November 1998 (as published in the Garante´s official bulletin no. 6, p. 81), setting out the prerequisites for an exemption from the obligation of informing data subjects in pursuance of Article 10(4), in which it was specified that the finding of the manifestly disproportionate effort could be made either on a case by case basis or in connection with general sectors or processing categories;

Whereas full compliance with the requirements laid down in Article 10(3) of Act no. 675/1996 can be found to be manifestly disproportionate in the case under scrutiny as compared with the right that is to be protected, in particular whenever the person to whom the publicly available data refer is not contacted by the entity using such data or receives propaganda material in which the required information cannot be easily included;

Whereas however if the data subject is contacted by means of either detailed communications or e-mail messages the aforementioned information can be easily included in the communications and/or messages and the items referred to in said Article 10 of the DPA can be summarised, if necessary by using a colloquial style;

Whereas it is necessary to provide for temporary exemption from the obligation to inform data subjects as per Article 10 of Act no. 675/1996 in respect of political parties and movements, electoral committees, individual candidates and any other entity processing the data referred to above exclusively for political communication or propaganda purposes in connection with the forthcoming elections;

Noting that the exemption from the obligation to inform data subjects leaves unprejudiced the obligation for data users to erase the information concerning any entity requesting erasure of the relevant data in pursuance of Article 13 of Act no. 675/1996;

Noting that the exemption does not apply if the personal data are not taken from public registries, lists, instruments or publicly available documents (see Articles 12(1)c), 20(1)b) of Act no. 675/1996), in which case the obligation to inform data subjects and obtain their consent, if necessary, is left unprejudiced;

Having regard to the considerations made by the Secretary General in pursuance of Article 15 of the Garante´s Office Regulations no. 1/2000 as adopted by resolution no. 15 of 28.06.2000 and published on the Official Journal of the Italian Republic no. 162 of 13.07.2000;

Acting on the report by Professor Ugo De Siervo;

the Garante hereby:

a) exempts political parties and movements, electoral committees supporting parties and/or candidates and any other entity processing personal data taken from public registries, lists, instruments or publicly available documents exclusively for political communication or propaganda purposes in connection with the elections scheduled for Spring 2001, pursuant to Article 10(4) of Act no. 675/1996;

b) provides that the exemption referred to under a) shall apply until the 30th of June 2001 as regards the information to be given to the persons to whom the publicly available data refer, where such persons are not contacted by data users or receive propaganda material - other than detailed communications and/or e-mail messages - in which the relevant information cannot be included;

c) provides that in the cases considered herein the information referred to in Article 10(3) of Act no. 675/1996 shall be included in such e-mail messages or detailed communications as are sent to data subjects rather than being provided at the time of recording the relevant data;

d) orders that a copy of this resolution be published on the Official Journal of the Italian Republic.

Done in Rome, on this 7th day of February 2001

The President
Rodotà