Brussels, 08/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 8 April, the Court of Justice of the EU ruled (case C-288/12) that by terminating the mandate of its data protection commissioner early, on 1 January 2012, Hungary had violated the directive on the protection of personal data (95/46/EC). This directive obliges the member states to appoint authorities responsible for the protection of these data to carry out their mandate in full independence. The European judges took the view that the early termination of the mandate of the commissioner infringed this independence and that Hungary should comply with the full term of the mandate.
The Hungarian commissioner, Mr Andras Jori, was appointed for a period of six years on 29 September 2008, but the Hungarian parliament decided to reform the data protection system and to establish a national authority tasked with protecting data and the freedom of information instead of the commissioner, with effect from 1 January 2012. The European Commission took the view that the early termination of Mr Jori's mandate violated the directive and launched an accelerated infringement procedure against Hungary on 17 January 2012, before bringing the matter before the Court on 8 June of the same year.
In its judgment, the Court backs the Commission. It points out that the control authorities created by virtue of the directive must be able to carry out their duties without any external influence. If, however, the Court argues, member states are able to end the mandate of the control authority before its expected expiry without observing the conditions laid down by the legislation in force (extended inability of the holder of the position to carry out his or her duties, failure to respect his or her wealth declaration obligations, criminal convictions or conflicts of interest), this may lead that authority to obey orders from the political level. Consequently, the independence of the control authority required by the directive necessarily includes the obligation to respect the duration of the term entrusted to that authority and to terminate it only in full respect of the applicable legislation. Hungary has unquestionably infringed the directive on that point.
Vice-President of the European Commission with responsibility for justice Viviane Reding was happy that the Court's judgment had upheld the legal analysis of the Commission, pointing out that the institution has already intervened three times to preserve the independence of the data protection authorities and that it was currently in talks with the German government over a similar affair. “I will not hesitate to intervene again if necessary”, she warned. (FG)