The complainant obtained a temporary injunction against the father of her joint child and, after moving to another federal state, set up an information block in the Central Register of Residents (ZMR). Thereupon, the respondent, which was a local authority, sent an information letter to the child’s father. This information letter contained the complainant’s new address, which she had blocked in the ZMR.
The respondent justified the processing in question by stating that a registration or information block must be entered manually in its “CRM” data storage program. A registration or information block in the ZMR is not sufficient for an information block to appear in the system. Therefore, the child’s parents would have to actively notify the respondent of a disclosure bar. In addition, the respondent invoked Section 10 of the State Child and Youth Welfare Act (LandesKJHG).
In particular, the data protection authority found that there was no legal basis for the forwarding to the child’s father, since pursuant to Section 10 para. 7 of the LandKJHG, in the event of a change of responsibility, the documentation is only to be transmitted to the competent district administrative authority or the locally competent child and youth welfare agency.
Furthermore, it would be up to the respondent to take suitable technical and organizational measures to comply with the complainant’s legitimate interest in keeping her (new) address secret, for example by automatically or manually checking the ZMR extract for a block before sending documents, especially in cases where there is a restraining order or indications of criminal behavior by the child’s father.
Therefore, the data protection authority came to the conclusion in the decision of September 16, 2022, GZ: DSB-D124.0867/22 2022-0.565.965, that the transmission in question by the respondent to the child’s father was not lawful due to the lack of a qualified legal basis, which is why there was a violation of the right to confidentiality.
This decision is legally binding.
Source: DSB Austria