The court rejects the appeal against the fine imposed by the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD). The Office has punished the surveyed population for asking whether they would vote for their ideology and independence. The court orders that the penalty be paid by means of an emergency.

Omnium and the ANC conducted a survey called “gigaenquest” prior to the Nov. 9 poll. Thanks to the work of the volunteers, it was done by asking in Catalan homes. This work was carried out within the framework of the “Ara és l´hora” campaign, with the aim of strengthening the participatory process.

Faced with this, several organizations and individuals, including the far-right Vox party, filed a complaint with the AEPD. The Office opened a sanctioning file, initiating an investigation and making records. Both associations confiscated the information received.

Both entities filed an appeal on the grounds that they acted without violating the Organic Law on Protection of Personal Data. The decision and the fine of the Data Protection Agency were considered “unfair” and explained that their purpose is to damage their credibility.

The ANC denounces that they have been informed of the sentence through the press.

At the moment 440,000 euros

The AEPD fined each of them approximately 200,000 euros for violating Article 7.3 of the Organic Law on Personal Data Protection. According to this article, no one has the obligation to speak about their ideology, beliefs or religion. On the other hand, the ANC will have to pay another fine of 40,000 euros for non-compliance with the ninth article of the same law. The article includes the security measures that should be followed by this type of surveys.

The Court explains that two additional sanctions, each amounting to EUR 90,000, are pending against ANC and Omnium. These are especially due to unauthorized international transfers of data that are protected in the United States.