Model Decision/Uniform Template for a Decision by Cookie Banner Taskforce

The request was refused by European Data Protection Board.

Enrique Broenstein

Dear European Data Protection Board,

Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting documents which contain the following information:

The model decision/uniform template for a decision jointly prepared by the EDPB's Cookie Banner Task Force for the 101 NOYB complaints, which, according to the Bavarian State Office for Data Protection, did not reach the majority required to be adopted as a uniform model decision.

Source: Minutes of the 102nd German Conference of the Data Protection Supervisory Authorities of the Federation and the Länder on 24 and 25 November 2021, available in German, https://www.datenschutzkonferenz-online....

Yours faithfully,

Enrique Broenstein

European Data Protection Board

Thank you for your message and for your interest in data protection. We
will look into your request and get back to you within due time.
The EDPB Secretariat

European Data Protection Board

Dear Mr. Broenstein,

We confirm registration of your access to documents request and registered it today under reference 2022/11. Please use this reference for further correspondence.

We are currently assessing your request and will provide you with a reply within 15 working days (17/02/2022).

Please note that the EDPB specific privacy statement regarding the processing of personal data for the purposes of handling requests for access to documents is available on the EDPB website and can be viewed via this link: https://edpb.europa.eu/sites/edpb/files/...

Should you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Best regards,

The EDPB Secretariat

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European Data Protection Board

1 Attachment

Dear Mr. Broenstein,

 

Please find enclosed the reply to your request for access to documents
(ref. 2022-11) signed by Mr Ventsislav Karadjov, Vice-Chair of the EDPB.

 

Best regards,

 

The EDPB Secretariat

 

Dear European Data Protection Board,

Please pass this on to the person who reviews confirmatory applications.

I am filing the following confirmatory application with regards to my access to documents request 'Model Decision/Uniform Template for a Decision by Cookie Banner Taskforce'.

First of all, thank you for the clarification about the Cookie Banner Taskforce and the 101 Taskforce.

It does not seem comprehensible which particular "commercial interests of a natural or legal person" (which, according to the relevant Regulation 1049/2001, should in particular include "intellectual property") are affected, especially since the document requested is merely a draft decision template. By its very nature, this type of document should not identify any natural or legal person as a website operator as a respondent. Likewise, the fact that the tools challenged in the 101 complaints are Google Analytics and Facebook Connect integrations in webpages has already been published from the very beginning, namely by NOYB itself (which, incidentally, also lists the respective EU data controller on its website and has published the complete complaints). See, https://noyb.eu/en/eu-us-transfers-compl...

The "purposes of investigations" do also not appear to be affected for this reason, especially since the first decisions of the 101 complaints (of the Austrian and French DPAs) have already been fully published. In your letter of 17 February 2022, you do not provide any justification as to how the publication of the draft decision template would undermine "the purpose and result of such investigations, and also of future investigations carried out by the EDPB members". On the contrary, the scope of decision-making left to the DPAs in the 101 complaints is rather small, as can be seen from the clear-cut decisions of the Austrian and French DPAs.
In addition, both decisions show clear similarities in their line of argumentation, which suggest that the draft decision template was at least partly used as a basis for drafting. It seems contradictory to continue to withhold the publication of the draft decision template from the interested expert public and the numerous media representatives, who have a legitimate and, due to the widespread use of the aforementioned tools, overriding public interest in disclosure. Moreover, this approach of the 101 Taskforce is unprecedented in the history of EU DPAs and for this reason alone requires a high level of public visibility and transparency. I take the liberty of not reproducing the numerous media reports on the 101 complaints and the first decisions of the Austrian and French DPAs in detail here for reasons of better readability. I assume that you are very well aware of these reports and also of the fact that individual DPAs have even already been asked about these proceedings by a number of representatives of the press.

Therefore, there are no reasons that speak against a full disclosure of the decision draft template.

In the alternative, should you consider otherwise, I shall refer you to Art. 4(6) and (7) of the aforementioned Regulation: "If only parts of the requested document are covered by any of the exceptions, the remaining parts of the document shall be released." More importantly, the abovementioned exceptions "shall only apply for the period during which protection is justified on the basis of the content of the document." This period has most certainly long been exceeded by the first decisions of the 101 complaints (of the Austrian and French DPAs), requiring full disclosure also for this reason.

A full history of my request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/model...

Yours faithfully,

Enrique Broenstein

European Data Protection Board

Dear Mr. Broenstein,

We acknowledge receipt of your confirmatory application sent in relation to your access to documents request 2022-11 on 20 February 2022.

It has been registered today under reference 2022-11-C. Please use this reference for further correspondence.

We are currently assessing your confirmatory request and will provide you with a reply within 15 working days (deadline: 15/03/2022).

Should you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Best regards,

The EDPB Secretariat

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European Data Protection Board

1 Attachment

Dear Mr. Broenstein,

 

Please find attached the answer from Ms. Andrea Jelinek, EDPB Chair, with
regard to your confirmatory application (reference 2022-11-C).

 

Sincerely,

 

The EDPB Secretariat