COVID

CASES, SANCTIONS AND CLAIMS

REPORTS AND ARTICLES FROM OTHER ORGANISATIONS

Privacy International (website section): Apps and Covid-19.
(2020, Mar) Politico: Surveillance in fight against Covid-19. In fight against coronavirus, governments embrace surveillance.
(2020, Mar) The Guardian: Using phone data to help fight coronavirus – The UK’s privacy watchdog has said the government can legally use personal data from people’s mobile phones to track and monitor behaviour if it helps fight the spread of coronavirus.
(2020, Apr) Wired: Big Data Could Undermine the Covid-19 Response.
(2020, Apr) Hogan Lovells: Coronavirus and data protection: Europe’s data protection authorities’ views.
(2020, Aug) According to the Opinion of the Romanian Ombudsman, conditioning, by the employer, the return to work of employees by performing a coronavirus test is excessive.

OFFICIAL GUIDELINES, REPORTS AND STATEMENTS

(2020, Mar) Belgian DPA: guidance on preventive measures taken by companies and employers to prevent the further spread of the virus.
(2020, Mar) Irish DPC: Data protection law does not stand in the way of the provision of healthcare and the management of public health issues. Measures taken in response to Coronavirus involving the use of personal data, including health data, should be necessary and proportionate.
(2020, Mar) Italian DPA: stated that employers must refrain from collecting, in advance and in a systematic and generalized manner information about the presence of flu signs of employees and the closest contacts or, in any case, about areas outside the working environment.
(2020, Apr) European Commission: recommendation on a common Union toolbox for the use of technology and data to combat and exit from the COVID-19 crisis, in particular concerning mobile applications and the use of anonymised mobility data.
(2020, Apr) EDPS: response to the European Commission’s plan to collect telecommunications metadata to fight against Covid-19.
(2020, Apr) European Commission: Guidance to ensure full data protection standards of apps fighting the pandemic.
(2020, Apr) Coronavirus: An EU approach for efficient contact tracing apps to support gradual lifting of confinement measures.
(2020, Apr) European Parliament: resolution on EU coordinated action to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences.
(2020, Apr) EDPS: The EDPS calls for a pan-European approach against COVID-19.
(2020, May) eHealth Network: EU Member States, with the support of the Commission, published guidelines to ensure interoperability between mobile tracing and warning apps across EU.
(2020, May) Polish Data Protection Authority: Guidance on screening employees and guests entering employers’ premises, temperature and health data in order to support employers in protecting their businesses and people.
(2020, May) EU Fundamental Rights Agency bulletin: Tech answers to COVID-19 should also safeguard fundamental rights.
(2020, Jun) Belgian DPA: new comprehensive guidance on temperature readings (available in French here and in Dutch here).
(2020, Jun) Belgian DPA: guidance on temperature checks during the COVID-19 crisis – article in English.
(2020, Jun) The EDPB: statement on data subject rights in connection to the state of emergency in Member States due to the coronavirus pandemic.
(2020, Jun) Irish DPC: guidance note on the data protection implications of the Return to Work Safely Protocol.
(2020, Jul) Gibraltar DPA: Temperature checks guidelines.
(2020, Jun) The French Council of State announced it has ordered the municipality of Lisses to stop the use of thermal cameras to monitor the health of students, teachers, and staff as part of the fight against the spread of COVID-19.
(2020, Sept) French CNIL: guidance on the obligation of employers in relation to COVID-19 risks. The official French version can be accessed here.
(2020, Sept) Belgian DPA: guide for the hospitality industry on how to manage registers of visitors/clients, as required in the context of Covid-19 (available only in Dutch and French).
(2020, Sept) EDPS: Orientations on body temperature checks by EU institutions in the context of the COVID-19 crisis.
(2020, Sept) The German DPAs (‘DSK’): resolution on the use of thermographic cameras and electronic temperature measurement in the context of the Coronavirus pandemic. DSK finds temperature checks regularly lack suitability and necessity (read the press release only in English here and the resolution only in German here).
Irish DPC (short guide): Processing Customer Data for Covid-19 Contact Tracing.
(2020, Oct) The Dutch Data Protection Authority published Recommendations for privacy in digital home education (the press release is available in English and in Dutch).