The President of the Polish SA may handle complaints against parliamentary committees of inquiry

The activities of committees of inquiry appointed by the Parliament are not exempted from the application of the GDPR.

Mirosław Wróblewski, the President of the Personal Data Protection Office, in response to the letter from Adam Szłapka, Minister for European Union Affairs, explained that the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) of 16 January 2024 in case C-33/22 Österreichische Datenschutzbehörde does not necessitate the amendment of the Polish regulations. However, it will affect the interpretation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

In its ruling, the CJEU inter alia held that the activities of committees of inquiry appointed by the Parliament cannot be regarded as activities concerning national security that would cause them to fall outside the scope of application of the European Union law. The President of the Personal Data Protection Office also compared the CJEU's ruling with the national regulations on the activities of parliamentary committees of inquiry, which, in his opinion, do not require amendment in the light of the Tribunal's judgment. However, the consequence of this ruling is the need to interpret national regulations in such a way that they grant the President of the Personal Data Protection Office the competence to handle complaints about the processing of personal data by the committee of inquiry.

Details of the interpretation of the President of the Personal Data Protection Office of the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union in case C-33/22 can be found in the opinion attached below.