Resolution of the Supreme Administrative Court on the Act on Institute of National Remembrance

Resolution of the Supreme Administrative Court on the Act on Institute of National Remembrance is necessary

A divergence has emerged in the jurisprudence of administrative courts as to whether the provisions of GDPR apply to data collected in the databases of the Institute of National Remembrance. The President of the Personal Data Protection Office Mirosław Wróblewski addressed the Commissioner for Human Rights on this issue.

According to the jurisprudence of the administrative courts to date, Article 71 of the Institute of National Remembrance Act does not exclude the supervisory powers of the President of the Personal Data Protection Office on the processing of personal data by the Institute of National Remembrance established by the GDPR, but extends them to the data of deceased persons.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Administrative Court, in its judgment of 5 February 2025, expressed a different view. It considered that Article 71 of the Institute of National Remembrance Act should be read in such a way that the provisions of the GDPR apply only to the Genetic Material Database, which the Institute of National Remembrance is establishing in order to carry out search and identification work, and therefore the competence of the President of the Personal Data Protection Office applies only to the personal data processed in this Database.

Therefore, the President of the Personal Data Protection Office asked the Commissioner for Human Rights to request the Supreme Administrative Court to adopt a resolution aimed at clarifying the discrepancies in the jurisprudence of administrative courts. The Commissioner for Human Rights is entitled to such statutory power, the President of the Personal Data Protection Office is not.