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🇧🇪Belgium: “public bodies are exempt from GDPR fines” (web.archive.org)
submitted 9 months ago by to c/gdpr@sopuli.xyz
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Gem from the article:

Under Article 221, §2 of the Belgian Data Protection Act of 30 July 2018, public bodies are exempt from GDPR fines in Belgium.

So Belgian public services have no incentive to comply with the GDPR.

Yikes. The money taken by fines does not disappear. It would normally move from one public pot to another public pot.

(update) less confusing source: https://eurocloud.org/news/article/no-gdpr-fines-for-public-sector-bodies-at-all-no-discrimination-and-no-problem/

It’s also interesting to see the comment on this case.

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[–] 1 point 8 months ago (1 child)

Just really picking up on the last part.

GDPR is taken incredibly seriously here. But human error is the leading cause of breaches and in a situation you have teams that are grossly understaffed then mistakes will happen. A fine wouldn't deter it.

The only real solution is to hire more staff and share the workload. But there isnt any money so 🤷

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

    The DPA is not limited to fines. A DPA can give advice, issue warnings, and orders. A DPA is unlikely to use a heavy-handed but simultaneously ineffective or inappropriate tool for enforcement. The DPA also has discretion in the amount of the fine. The law at hand w.r.t this thread disempowers the DPA from fines -- which would be increasingly important for repeat offenders.

    I think it’s far-fetched to suggest that a DPA would ruin or sink a school. But it would be sensible for the penalty limit to be lower for public data controllers if that concern is realistic. There could also be an imposed leniency on 1st time offences.

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