Hessian commissioner for data protection and freedom of information

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The Hessian Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information
- HBDI -

State level State of Hesse
founding 1971
Headquarters Wiesbaden
Authority management Michael Ronellenfitsch
Web presence www.datenschutz.hessen.de

The Hessian Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information is the State Data Protection Officer of the State of Hesse . On the one hand, it is an independent supreme state authority based in Wiesbaden . Since the new version of the Hessian Data Protection and Freedom of Information Act in 2018, he has also been the State Freedom of Information Commissioner for Hesse.

The Hessian Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information is also referred to as the person who exercises the office of the State Data Protection and Freedom of Information Commissioner. Since October 2003 this is Michael Ronellenfitsch .

Tasks and competencies

The Hessian Data Protection and Freedom of Information Commissioner is elected by the state parliament on the proposal of the state government for a period of 5 years (§ 9 HDSIG in conjunction with § 11 para. 1 HDSIG). It is independent and not subject to any instructions from the state government (§ 8 HDSIG).

The Hessian data protection and freedom of information officer

  • monitors compliance with the data protection regulations in public and non-public bodies in Hessen
  • gives authorities, ministries and companies recommendations for improving data protection
  • raises public awareness of the risks, regulations, guarantees and rights related to the processing of personal data
  • Upon request of any data subject, information on the exercise of their data protection rights
  • deals with complaints from data subjects about violations of data protection regulations and, if necessary, the setting of fines
  • observes the effects of automated data processing on the functioning of authorities and self-governing bodies and points to a possible shift in the separation of powers
  • works with the Federal Data Protection and Freedom of Information Commissioner and the other country's data protection officer in the Conference of the independent data protection authorities of the federal and state governments as well as with other European data protection authorities in the context of the Data Protection Regulation together

He has a right to information from data processing agencies and can submit complaints to the relevant agencies and their superior authorities. In addition, in the event of significant violations of data protection law, he also has extensive authority to issue orders. He also has the option of setting fines.

In his function as freedom of information officer

To this end, the bodies required to provide information are obliged to support him in his work. He is to be given information on specific applications, as well as access to the files concerned.

Since July 2011, the Hessian data protection officer has been responsible for Schufa in terms of data protection law (previously the Darmstadt Regional Council was responsible).

Inputs

Anyone can turn to the Hessian Data Protection and Freedom of Information Commissioner and submit any violations of their data protection or freedom of information rights. Employees in public bodies can contact the Hessian data protection and freedom of information officer without having to comply with official channels.

Expert opinion and activity report

According to Section 15 Paragraph 3 and Section 89 Paragraph 4, an essential tool used by the Data Protection and Freedom of Information Commissioner to uncover grievances and to demand improvements is the annual activity report to be submitted to the state parliament, on which the state government then issues an opinion. The data protection part of the report is also submitted to the European Commission and the European Data Protection Committee (Section 15 (3) sentence 2). Furthermore, the data protection and freedom of information officer according to Section 15 (1) can prepare expert opinions on data protection or freedom of information issues on behalf of the state parliament or state government.

Legal bases

The tasks and rights listed above in relation to data protection are described in the fourth section of the first part of the Hessian Data Protection and Freedom of Information Act (HDSIG) (§§ 8 ff.). The tasks and rights with regard to freedom of information are described in the fourth part of the Hessian Data Protection and Freedom of Information Act (HDSIG) (§ 89). Further essential sources of law are the Federal Data Protection Act and the General Data Protection Regulation .

Wiesbaden declaration

With reference to the judgment of the European Court of Justice of March 9, 2010 against the Federal Republic of Germany, the parliamentary groups of CDU, FDP, SPD and Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen issued the "Wiesbaden Declaration" on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Hessian Data Protection Act on October 8, 2010 “From. In it, they announced their intention to merge data protection supervision in the private and public areas at the Hessian data protection officer.

The amendment to the Hessian Data Protection Act required for this was decided at the 75th meeting on May 19, 2011 and came into force on July 1, 2011.

history

In 1970, Hessen was the first state to pass its own state data protection law. In 1971, Willi Birkelbach, the first state data protection officer of the Federal Republic of Germany, was introduced into his office.

Official

  1. Willi Birkelbach (June 9, 1971 to June 18, 1975)
  2. Spiros Simitis (June 18, 1975 to October 22, 1991)
  3. Winfried Hassemer (October 22, 1991 to May 30, 1996)
  4. Rainer Hamm (May 30, 1996 to June 29, 1999)
  5. Friedrich von Zezschwitz (June 29, 1999 to September 30, 2003)
  6. Michael Ronellenfitsch (since October 1, 2003)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Conference of Freedom of Information Commissioners. Retrieved March 3, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Activity reports of the Hessian data protection officer. Retrieved September 15, 2019 .
  3. ↑ a b Hessian Data Protection and Freedom of Information Act. Retrieved March 1, 2019 .
  4. ^ Judgment of the European Court of Justice of March 9, 2010
  5. ^ Press release from Alliance 90 / The Greens
  6. ↑ Law on the reorganization of data protection and preservation of the independence of the data protection officer in Hesse . (PDF; 77 kB) Printed matter 18/375
  7. ↑ Amendment to printed matter 18/375 (PDF; 93 kB) printed matter 18/3869
  8. ↑ Resolution protocol of the Hessian state parliament (PDF; 749 kB)