BVwG - W298 2314952-1

Summary

The Austrian Federal Administrative Court (BVwG) ruled that publishing unredacted personal data in legal decisions is unlawful if it's not essential for understanding the decision or serving transparency. In this case, a policeman's professional details were published, making him identifiable. While his health status and religious function were deemed lawfully published, his professional career information violated his data protection rights.

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Help BVwG - W298 2314952-1: Difference between revisions From GDPRhub Jump to:navigation, search Newer edit →VisualWikitext Revision as of 10:09, 15 September 2026 view source Lh (talk | contribs)Bureaucrats, Interface administrators, noContributionReport, Administrators48 edits Tag: Decisions [1.0]Newer edit → (No difference) Revision as of 10:09, 15 September 2026 BVwG - W298 2314952-1 Court: BVwG (Austria) Jurisdiction: Austria Relevant Law: Article 6(1)(e) GDPR Article 6(3) GDPR Decided: 13.07.2026 Published: Parties: National Case Number/Name: W298 2314952-1 European Case Law Identifier: ECLI:AT:BVWG:2026:W298.2314952.1.00 Appeal from: Appeal to: Original Language(s): German Original Source: RIS (in German) Initial Contributor: lh The making available of unredacted personal data as part of a legal decision published on an official website is unlawful insofar as it is not necessary for understanding the meaning of the decision and serving the aims of transparency and legal certainty. Contents 1 English Summary 1.1 Facts 1.2 Holding 2 Comment 3 Further Resources 4 English Machine Translation of the Decision English Summary Facts The data subject was a policeman who was subject to disciplinary measures. He filed a complaint concerning those disciplinary measures. The decision of the complaint was published on an official website of the Federal Chancellery of Austria that makes available legal decisions (Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes). In the published decision, the professional position of the data subject within the police was not redacted. Neither was the place of the police school redacted where he was teaching (including the address of the school and the courses he was teaching). Moreover, the workplace where he was referred to after the disciplinary measure was not redacted. The published decision also mentioned the mental health status of the data subject, as it was relevant for the disciplinary measure, and a religious function he was exercising. Any other personal information of the data subject was redacted. The data subject filed a complaint with the court under national law concerning a violation of the protection of his personal data, claiming insufficient anonymisation. Holding The court held that the complaint was partly justified. The combination of personal data about the data subject’s professional career that was made available on the website made the data subject identifiable pursuant to Article 4(1) GDPR to a significant number of persons. Thus, the data subject’s health status was made available to an undefined group of people. As far as the personal data concerning the data subject’s professional career was concerned, the court held that the making available violated the data subject’s data right to protection of their personal data. Legal decisions are published with the aim of guaranteeing legal certainty as well as transparency. By anonymising the data subject’s personal information concerning his professional career, none of those aims would be impaired. The meaning of the decision would not be altered. The court held that the making available of the health data was lawful under Article 5(1)(a) GDPR, Article 6(1)(e) GDPR in conjunction with Article 6(3) GDPR. The interest of the public to learn about jurisprudence, especially in the field of disciplinary decisions where the health status was relevant for the decision, prevailed over the data subject’s right. The processing of the religious function the data subject was exercising was lawful, according to the court. This is because it was necessary to mention his function in order to understand a conversation between the data subject and a witness in the context of the disciplinary decision. Comment Share your comments here! Further Resources Share blogs or news articles here! English Machine Translation of the Decision The decision below is a machine translation of the German original. Please refer to the German original for more details. Date of Decision July 13, 2026 Legal Provision B-VG Art. 130, para. 2a B-VG Art. 133, para. 4 BVwGG § 20 BVwGG § 24a GDPR Art. 4, para. 1 GDPR Art. 4(1)(15) GDPR Art. 4(2) GDPR Art. 4(7) GDPR Art. 5(1)(l) GDPR Art. 6(1)(c) GDPR Art. 6(1)(e) GDPR Art. 6(3) GOG § 85 GOG § 85(1) B-VG Art. 130 (current) B-VG Art. 130 effective as of February 1, 2019, last amended by BGBl. I No. 14/2019 B-VG Art. 130 effective from January 1,January 2019 through January 31, 2019, last amended by Federal Law Gazette I No. 22/2018 B-VG Art. 130 effective from January 1, 2019, through May 24,2018, last amended by Federal Law Gazette I No. 138/2017, B-VG Art. 130, effective from May 25, 2018, through December 31, 2018, last amended by Federal Law Gazette I No. 22/2018 B-VG Art. 130 effective from January 1, 2015, through May 24, 2018, last amended by Federal Law Gazette I No. 101/2014 B-VG Art. 130, effective from January 1, 2014, through December 31, 2014, last amended by Federal Law Gazette I No. 115/2013 B-VG Art. 130, effective from JanuaryJanuary 2014 through December 31, 2013; last amended by Federal Law Gazette I No. 51/2012; B-VG Art. 130; effective from January 1, 2004, through December 31,2013, last amended by Federal Law Gazette I No. 100/2003, B-VG Art. 130, effective from Jan. 1, 1998, through Dec. 31, 2003, last amended by Federal Law Gazette I No. 87/1997 B-VG Art. 130 effective from January 1, 1991, through December 31, 1997, last amended by Federal Law Gazette No. 685/1988 B-VG Art. 130, effective from July 1, 1976, to December 31, 1990, last amended by Federal Law Gazette No. 302/1975, B-VG Art. 130, effective from July 18, 1962, through June 30, 1976; last amended by Federal Law Gazette No. 215/1962, B-VG Art. 130, in effect from December 25, 1946, to July 17, 1962; last amended by Federal Law Gazette No. 211/1946; B-VG Art. 130, in effect from December 19,December 1945 through December 24, 1946; last amended by State Law Gazette No. 4/1945; B-VG Art. 130; in effect from January 3, 1930, through June 30, 1934 B-VG Art. 133 (now B-VG Art. 133), effective from Jan. 1, 2019, to May 24, 2018, last amended by BGBl. I No. 138/2017 Federal Constitutional Law (B-VG) Art. 133, effective as of January 1, 2019; last amended by Federal Law Gazette (BGBl.) I No. 22/2018 Federal Constitutional Law (B-VG) Art. 133, effective from May 25,May 2018 through December 31, 2018; last amended by Federal Law Gazette (BGBl.) I No. 22/2018; B-VG Art. 133; effective from August 1, 2014, through May 24,2018, last amended by Federal Law Gazette I No. 164/2013, B-VG Art. 133, effective from Jan. 1, 2014, through July 31, 2014, last amended by Federal Law Gazette I No. 51/2012 Federal Constitutional Law (B-VG) Art. 133, effective from January 1, 2004, through December 31, 2013, last amended by Federal Law Gazette I No. 100/2003 Federal Constitutional Law (B-VG) Art. 133, effective from January 1, 1975, through December 31, 2003, last amended by Federal Law Gazette No. 444/1974 Federal Constitutional Law (B-VG Art. 133 valid from Dec. 25, 1946, through Dec. 31, 1974, last amended by Federal Law Gazette No. 211/1946 B-VG Art. 133 valid from Dec. 19,December 1945 through December 24, 1946; last amended by State Law Gazette No. 4/1945; B-VG Art. 133; in effect from January 3, 1930, through June 30, 1934 BVwGG § 20 (currently BVwGG § 20), effective as of Oct. 1, 2025, last amended by Federal Law Gazette I No. 54/2025, BVwGG § 20, in effect from January 1, 2014, through September 30, 2025 BVwGG § 24a (now BVwGG § 24a), effective as of July 14, 2023, last amended by Federal Law Gazette I No. 77/2023 BVwGG § 24a effective from May 25, 2018, through July 13, 2023, last amended by Federal Law Gazette I No. 22/2018 GOG § 85 (current) GOG § 85 effective as of May 25, 2018, last amended by Federal Law Gazette I No. 32/2018 GOG § 85 effective from January 1, 2005, through May 24,2018, last amended by Federal Law Gazette I No. 128/2004 GOG § 85, effective from August 1, 1989, to Dec

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