BELGIAN DATA PROTECTION AUTHORITY IMPOSES €50,000 FINE ON FAMILY SERVICE

 01.02.2021

European Data Protection Board (“EDPB”) announced that the Belgian Data Protection Authority (“BE DPA”) has decided on an administrative fine to Family Service for various breaches of the GDPR. 

Family Service is a marketing company that distributes pink boxes that include samples, special offers, and information sheets for future parents. The BE DPA started an investigation into the company after a complaint to the BE DPA alleging the company transferred personal data to third parties, including data brokers, without valid consent on the part of the customer, and without the provision of sufficient information.

Moreover, the consents given by the customers for these transfers of data were not valid, as consent was clearly not informed, but also not specific (as consent for receiving the boxes automatically involved the transfer of data) or freely given (as the lack of consent involved the loss of some benefits).

BE DPA has taken into account that the pink boxes were distributed via gynaecologists and hospitals, which could have led clients to believe that the initiative came from the public sector, and not from a private company whose core business is trading data.  

For all these reasons, BE DPA decided to impose a fine of 50,000 Euro and ordered the company to comply with the GDPR.

You can find the text of the EDPB’s statement  here.

Should you have any queries and/or remarks, please do not hesitate to contact us. 

 

Kind regards,

Zumbul Attorneys-at-Law

info@zumbul.av.tr