Opinion of the European Data Protection
Supervisor on the Commission proposal for a Regulation amending
Council Regulation (EC) No 1346/2000 on insolvency
proceedings.
The proposed Regulation amends the Insolvency
Regulation in order to cope with weaknesses revealed in its
practical application.
Amongst the measures proposed that will impact data
protection, the Proposal provides for a mandatory publication of
the decisions opening or closing a proceeding and encourages and
organises cross-boarder exchanges of information between
stakeholders. Information thus published and/or exchanged may
identify (either directly or indirectly) debtors, creditors, and
liquidators involved in the proceeding. Therefore, EU data
protection legislation applies.
The EDPS recommends that:
- concrete and effective data protection
safeguards are put in place for any
situation in which personal data processing is
envisaged;
- the necessity and the proportionality of the
proposed system for the Internet publication of decisions
opening and closing insolvency proceedings is assessed. Subject to
the outcome of this proportionality test, the publication
obligation should in any event be supported by adequate safeguards
to ensure full respect of the rights of the persons concerned, the
security/accuracy of the data and their deletion after an adequate
period of time;
- the modalities of the functioning of national
databases and the EU database with
regard to data protection issues are clarified by introducing more
detailed provisions in the proposed Regulations, in compliance with
Directive 95/46/EC and Regulation (EC) No 45/2001;
- it is specified whether any data will be stored in the
e-Justice portal. If this is the case, specific safeguards
should be added.