European Ombudsman And Data Protection Supervisor Sign MoU

by Ulrika Lomas, for LawAndTax-News.com, Brussels

04 December 2006

The European Ombudsman, P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, and the European Data Protection Supervisor, Peter Hustinx, on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Brussels.

The purpose of the agreement is to ensure the consistent treatment of complaints concerning data protection and to avoid unnecessary duplication.

In pursuit of this goal, each of the signatory institutions has undertaken:

  • To inform complainants about the other institution when this could be relevant to them and to facilitate the transfer of complaints;
  • To inform the other institution about complaints relevant to it;
  • Not to reopen a complaint that has already been brought forward, unless significant new evidence is submitted; and
  • To adopt a consistent approach to legal and administrative aspects of data protection, thereby promoting the rights and interests of citizens and complainants.

In a joint statement, the Ombudsman and the EDPS explained that:

"Because maladministration includes failure by the EU institutions to comply with their data protection obligations, it is important that we coordinate on cases where our competences partly overlap. This agreement builds upon the current practice of good cooperation between our two institutions."

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