Fine against trading platform

Fine against trading platform

The Cypriot trading platform Skroutz.com.cy was ordered to pay € 3,400 after several people received unsolicited marketing emails from that company and complaint.

The data protection authority reviewed the case and found that even after clicking the “unsubscribe” button at the end of the message, emails were still sent. In the course of the investigation, the agency asked for reasons why the platform sends messages to those affected. Only in one of a total of six cases could it be proven that this person had previously purchased products via the platform. Explanations for the remaining five affected the company could not deliver. Furthermore, the company stated that due to a change in the newsletter service provider, messages were still sent to persons who had already been deregistered. This was a one-time issue and would not happen anymore.

The data protection authority did not believe the statement of the platform and imposed the corresponding fine. An appropriate report including the name of the company was also published on the website of the authority.

Therefore, the company has to reckon with bad press. In addition to Cyprus, for example, the United Kingdom and Romania also publish the names of the companies or private individuals that have been punished. Business owners should therefore be mindful of compliance with the GDPR, so that customers continue to trust. An easy way to fulfill the requirements of the GDPR is easyGDPR. This online tool enables the compilation of the obligatory list of procedures by mouse click. At the same time, easyGDPR checks whether your data processing complies with the state of the art and whether the data collection has a legal basis.

Decision data:
28.03.2019

Country:
Cyprus

Type of Issue:
Illegal data processing

Number of involved data records:
6

Special category of data involved:
No

Fine:
€ 3,400,-

Reference: