Hungary violates EU law on ending data protection ombudsman’s contract, says European Court official

Budapest, December 10 (MTI) – Hungary has violated EU law with the early termination of the contract of Data Protection Ombudsman Andras Jori, the European Court’s Advocate General Melchior Wathelet said on Tuesday.

Hungary replaced its data protection obmudsman by the National Authority for Data Protection and Information Freedom on Jan. 1. 2012. The ombudsman András Jóri, still in office at the time, had his contract terminated before its expiry in September 2014. The president appointed Attila Péterfalvi, not Jóri, to head the new authority.

The European Commission had launched an infringement procedure against Hungary at the European Court over the matter.

Wathelet said in a legal opinion which is not binding for the Court, that while EU member states had a right to change their institutional networks, they could not violate the principle of an independent data protection authority in the process.

He said the authority’s independence was compromised by the fact that the ombudsman had been dismissed without fulfilling his mandate  which went against earlier Hungarian laws stating he could only be removed for breach of duty or other serious reasons. He added that Hungary had refused to receive temporary instructions on how the ombudsman’s term and independence could be respected.

Wathelet also argued that the new authority established in January 2012 is a legal successor of the data protection ombudsman, even if its powers and legal status are not the same. He said that the continuity is also established by Hungarian law. Thus, the changes which took place in connection with the data protection authority did not warrant Jori’s dismissal. He also rejected Hungary’s argument that Jori had indicated that he would not have accepted an appointment in the new authority, on grounds that that information was based merely on press reports and that no such post had officially been offered to him.

Wathelet in his opinion recommended to the European Court of Justice that it should pronounce that Hungary had violated EU responsibilities by terminating Jori’s mandate before it was fulfilled.

The Court had not yet scheduled a hearing in the case.

Photo: kaleidoscope.blog.hu

Source: http://hungarymatters.hu/