On April 30, 2020, the French data protection authority, the CNIL, published a guidance surrounding considerations behind what it calls “commercial prospecting,” meaning scraping publicly available website data to obtain individuals’ contact info for purposes of selling such data to third parties for direct marketing purposes. The guidance is significant in two respects. First, it … Continue Reading
DataGuidance spoke with Cécile Martin, Special International Counsel at Proskauer Rose LLP, at the International Association of Privacy Professionals’ Conference in Brussels in November 2016. Cécile discussed the passing of the Digital Republic Bill and its implications for organizations, as well as the latest developments regarding employee monitoring in France and the upcoming changes with … Continue Reading
Proskauer Counsel Cécile Martin was recently interviewed by DataGuidance’s “Privacy This Week” covering new guidance issued by the French data protection authority (‘CNIL’) on June 15, 2016. The guidance highlights the main changes in relation to the General Data Protection Regulation (‘GDPR’). On June 16, 2016, CNIL launched an online consultation regarding the interpretation and … Continue Reading
Co-authored by Geoffrey Roche On March 10, 2016, the French data protection agency (« CNIL ») pronounced a €100.000 ($111,715) fine against Google Inc. for failure to comply with its formal injunction of May, 2015 ordering the company to extend delisting to all the search engine’s extensions.… Continue Reading
According to the French Data Protection Authority’s (“CNIL”) recently issued activity report for 2013, the CNIL was especially busy in 2013. The main topics addressed by the CNIL in 2013 were the creation of a national consumer credit database, the right to be forgotten, the right to refuse cookies, the proposed EU Regulation, and, of … Continue Reading
In France, before implementing a whistleblowing process, a company must inform and consult with its employees’ representatives, inform its employees and notify the French Data Protection Agency (CNIL). There are two possible ways to notify the CNIL of a whistleblowing system: request a formal authorization from the CNIL (this is quite burdensome and difficult to … Continue Reading
In a recent decision (deliberation CNIL May 30, 2013 n°2013-139), the French Data Protection Agency (CNIL) sanctioned a company for implementing a CCTV system without informing employees and because the CCTV enabled the constant monitoring of one employee making the recording disproportionate to the goal pursued. The CNIL also sanctioned the company because it failed … Continue Reading
The French Data Protection Authority (“CNIL”) has recently issued its activity report for 2011. It provides us with some interesting data and allows us to reflect on the ever-growing importance of privacy and data protection in France. Video-surveillance, the right to be forgotten on the Internet, data breaches and abusive data collection by companies were … Continue Reading
Google launched a new privacy policy that took effect on March 1st, 2012. According to Google, the purpose of revising its privacy policy was to unify into one single privacy policy more than 60 different privacy policies across its wide array of products and services. … Continue Reading
In a decision dated September 23, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Caen suspended the implementation of a whistleblowing system that had been previously authorized by the French Data Protection Agency (CNIL) because, in the court’s view, the system infringed on the individual and collective rights and liberties of the company’s employees.… Continue Reading
While the European Commission is seeking to update its 15-year-old Directive regarding the protection of personal data, several regulations have been passed to strengthen privacy rights in Europe. With all this activity, it's clear that the United States is not the only country trying to adapt its privacy and information security standards to rapidly evolving technologies and marketplaces. Companies with an international presence need to stay alert to stay compliant. We can help!
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By a decision dated October 14, 2010, and published on December 8, 2010, the French Data Protection Agency (known under the acronym CNIL) revised the deliberation that it issued on December 8, 2005.
At that time, the CNIL had issued a deliberation to reach a compromise between the United States' Sarbanes-Oxley ("SOX") requirements and French law. According to Article 1 of that deliberation, companies were authorized to adopt whistleblowing systems implemented in response to French legislative mandates, regulatory internal control requirements (e.g. regulations governing banking institutions), or the whistleblowing requirements of the SOX Act. According to Article 3 of the 2005 deliberation, alleged wrongdoings not encompassed within these core areas may be covered by the whistleblowing system only if vital interests of the company or the physical or psychological integrity of its employees were threatened.
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To assist companies to comply with European data protection laws, in particular those implemented in France, the French Data Protection Agency (known as "CNIL") recently issued a set of guidelines organized by topic which provide elementary precautions to be taken by data controllers in several subject areas, including what types of conduct are prohibited as well as the CNIL's recommendations in these areas.
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In an opinion issued on June 22, 2010, the EU Data Protection Authorities (Article 29 Working Party) clarified the legal framework applicable to online behavioral advertising - an activity that is becoming a hot topic for discussion as its popularity grows. Among other things, the Article 29 Working Party clearly took the position that it is incumbent upon advertising network providers to "create prior opt-in mechanisms requiring an affirmative action by the users indicating their willingness to receive cookies and the subsequent monitoring of their surfing behavior for the purposes of serving tailored advertising."
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Last month the French subsidiary of the U.S. based company, Tyco Healthcare, became the first local branch of a U.S. company to be fined for data protection violations. France’s data protection agency, La Commission Nationale de L’informatique et des Libertes (CNIL) levied a fine of 30,000 euro (or about $40,350) against the company after it … Continue Reading
