Following a reference to the preliminary ruling by the Belgian State Council, the Belgian Constitutional Court said that interested third parties should be able to appeal the decision of the Court of Appeal (a sanctioning body within the Belgian Data Protection Authority). Arbitrated. Article 108(1) of the Law on the Establishment of Data Protection Authorities of 3 December 2017 does not foresee this possibility and is therefore considered unconstitutional.
Currently, only persons (both natural and legal persons) who are parties to the proceedings before the court of law can appeal against decisions. Persons who are not parties to litigation but suffer adverse consequences, so-called “interested third parties”, do not have this right.
The Constitutional Court has granted Articles 10 and 11 of the Constitution and natural and legal persons “effective judicial remedies against legally binding decisions of supervisory authorities regarding them;”.
The Constitutional Court has assessed the objectives pursued by the Belgian legislator and the preparatory work of the 3 December 2017 law. The court concluded that an appeal of the tribunal’s decision was irrelevant and not the intent of the legislator.
The Constitutional Court concluded that the difference in treatment between the parties to the proceedings submitted to the Court and interested third parties violated Articles 10 and 11 of the Belgian Constitution. Section 108 of the Law of 3 December 2017 was further deemed unconstitutional as it did not contain a rule that interested third parties could appeal to the Market Court. The Constitutional Court has asked the legislator to close this gap in Article 108 of the Law of 3 December 2017 by creating a specific deadline system for appeals against interested third parties.
Pending legislative intervention, the Constitutional Court allows interested third parties to appeal against decisions of the Tribunal within 30 days from the date on which they were presumed to have known of the decision. stipulates transitional measures that are permitted. or (ii) official gazette (For older decisions of the Tribunal where other standards lapsed prior to such publication). This means that this appeal may be available against older decisions (no time limit).
This decision is important for companies whose rights or interests may be directly or indirectly affected by decisions of the Belgian data protection authority involving other parties. There are determinations regarding the illegality of tools or processing activities used or carried out by interested third parties.
Author: Heidi Waem – Nicholas Becker
DELTA Data Protection & Compliance, Inc. Academy & Consulting – The DELTA NEWS – info@delta-data-compliance.com
