(October 1, 2015)
On October 1, 2015 the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled in Case C‑201/14 Smaranda Bara and Others versus Președintele Casei Naționale de Asigurări de Sănătate, Casa Naţională de Asigurări de Sănătate, Agenţia Naţională de Administrare Fiscală (ANAF), (ECLI:EU:C:2015:638).
Articles 10, 11 and 13 of Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995, on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, must be interpreted as precluding national measures, such as those at issue in the main proceedings, which allow a public administrative body of a Member State to transfer personal data to another public administrative body and their subsequent processing, without the data subjects having been informed of that transfer or processing.
The dispute in the main proceedings and the questions referred for a preliminary ruling
· The applicants in the main proceedings earn income from self-employment. The ANAF transferred data relating to their declared income to the CNAS. On the basis of that data, the CNAS required the payment of arrears of contributions to the health insurance regime.
· The applicants in the main proceedings brought an appeal before the Curtea de Apel Cluj (Court of Appeal, Cluj), in which they challenged the lawfulness of the transfer of tax data relating to their income in the light of Directive 95/46. They submit that the personal data were, on the basis of a single internal protocol, transferred and used for purposes other than those for which it had initially been communicated to the ANAF, without their prior explicit consent and without their having previously been informed.
· According to the order for reference, public bodies are empowered, under Law No 95/2006, to transfer personal data to the health insurance funds so that the latter may determine whether an individual qualifies as an insured person. The data concern the identification of persons (surname, first name, personal identity card number, address) but does not include data relating to income received.
· The referring court wishes to determine whether the processing of the data by the CNAS required prior information to be given to the data subjects as to the identity of the data controller and the purpose for which the data was transferred. That court is also asked to determine whether the transfer of the data on the basis of the 2007 Protocol is contrary to Directive 95/46 which requires that all restrictions on the rights of data subjects are laid down by law and accompanied by safeguards, in particular when the data is used against those persons.
· In those circumstances, the Curtea de Apel Cluj decided to stay proceedings and refer the following questions to the Court for a preliminary ruling:
(1) Is a national tax authority, as the body representing the competent ministry of a Member State, a financial institution within the meaning of Article 124 TFEU?
(2) Is it possible to make provision, by means of a measure akin to an administrative measure, namely a protocol concluded between the national tax authority and another State institution, for the transfer of the database relating to the income earned by the citizens of a Member State from the national tax authority to another institution of the Member State, without giving rise to a measure establishing privileged access, as defined in Article 124 TFEU?
(3) Is the transfer of the database, the purpose of which is to impose an obligation on the citizens of the Member State to pay social security contributions to the Member State institution for whose benefit the transfer is made, covered by the concept of prudential considerations within the meaning of Article 124 TFEU?
(4) May personal data be processed by authorities for which such data were not intended where such an operation gives rise, retroactively, to financial loss?
The CJEU ruled as follows:
Articles 10, 11 and 13 of Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995, on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, must be interpreted as precluding national measures, such as those at issue in the main proceedings, which allow a public administrative body of a Member State to transfer personal data to another public administrative body and their subsequent processing, without the data subjects having been informed of that transfer or processing.
For further information click here to be forwarded to the text of the ruling as published on the website of the CJEU, which will open in a new window.
Did you know that in our section CJEU Rulings we have made a selection of rulings of the CJEU? We have organized these rulings based on the subject they relate to (e.g. Freedom of establishment, Free movement of capital, Indirect taxes on the raising of capital, etc).
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