Ireland Data Protection Commision Publishes an Announcement on Inquiry concerning Mediahuis Ireland Group Limited

Ireland Data Protection Commision (“DPC”)has published an Announcement (“The Announcement”)  on Inquiry concerning Mediahuis Ireland Group Limited (“MIG”).

• According to the Announcement;
• The DPC has completed a complaint based inquiry into MIG’s processing of personal data in relation to a series of news reports in the print and online editions of the Irish Independent, Herald and Sunday Independent newspapers. The purpose of the inquiry was to examine if any obligations on the controller arising under Articles 5(1)(a), 5(1)(c), 5(2), 6 and 9 GDPR had been engaged and, if engaged, whether MIG infringed those obligations in publishing the personal data relating to the Complainant as contained in the relevant newspaper articles.
• In the inquiry, the DPC conducted a detailed analysis on the facts of the complaint, in which it carried out a balancing exercise to determine whether the processing of the complainant’s personal data by MIG in exercise of its right to freedom of expression and information for journalistic purposes was permitted because the application of certain GDPR provisions to prevent that publication would have been incompatible with such purposes. This required an assessment of where a fair balance lies between the freedom of expression right and the Complainant’s right to protection of her personal data.
• The DPC examined the legal basis for journalistic expression in terms of the Irish Constitution in Article 40.6.1°(i), which sets out that the ‘education of public opinion’ is ‘a matter of such grave import to the common good’ and that the press has a ‘rightful liberty of expression’, along with the text of Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights, which highlights that the ‘exercise of the right to freedom of expression may be subject to formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society.’ The DPC analysed precedents from Irish decisions on conflict between the right of free expression and the right to privacy or data protection. The DPC then went on to apply case law of the Court of Justice of the EU and of the European Court of Human Rights in determining the appropriate balance of competing human rights.
• Having regard to the totality of the evidence before it, the DPC found that the exemption under section 43(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018 applies to the reporting by MIG about which complaint was made by the Complainant, and the DPC therefore dismissed the Complaint under section 112(1)(b) of the Data Protection Act 2018.

You can access the full text of the Announcement here.

Kind regards,

Zumbul Attorneys-at-Law

info@zumbul.av.tr