The Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) has declared null and void the texts that allow the Road Infrastructure Agency (API) to provide data to the Ministry of Interior (MIA) for purposes outside of controlling road tolls. The magistrates ruled that the road agency has the legal right to share information with the police only regarding the payment of vignettes and tolls, BGNES reported.
The court ruled on an appeal against Article 8 and Appendix No. 2 of Instruction No. RD-02-21-1 of 2020. According to the magistrates' decision, these regulations were issued by incompetent authorities. At the time of the adoption of the document, the current law strictly regulated the exchange of data between the two institutions and only for the purposes of toll control, but not for tracking other violations.
The contested provisions in practice provided the Ministry of Interior with access to data on all vehicles that passed through, which goes beyond the legal delegation. The Supreme Administrative Court emphasizes that this information can lead to easy identification of the owners and drivers of the vehicles. This turns the process into unlawful processing of personal data.
In addition to the lack of material competence, the supreme judges also found significant violations in the adoption of the instruction itself. Among the shortcomings found are insufficient analysis of compliance with European law, lack of a mandatory impact assessment on the protection of personal data, as well as incomplete public consultations.
The decision creates an opportunity for citizens to seek their rights and demand the deletion of their unlawfully processed personal data. The judicial act is not final.