17 March, 2022

ETNO response to EDPB Guidelines 01/2022 on data subject rights - Right of access

ETNO welcomes the opportunity to comment on the draft Guidelines 01/2022. We highly value article 8 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. The right of access for data subjects has been implemented by the members we represent since Directive 95/46/EC came into force. The members have looked closely at Article 15 GDPR and the corresponding considerations 63 and 64 when the GDPR came into force to determine whether any changes were necessary. The right of access has been actively exercised by data subjects without major problems or complaints for many years.

However, we are of the opinion that the draft Guidelines as published by the EDPB have unintended effects for users of telecom services and go beyond the intention of the EU legislator, especially as expressed in recitals 63 and 64 of the GDPR.

Furthermore, ETNO supports the EDPB’s aim to explain their Guidelines in a simple manner and with practical examples. However, the Guidelines should also reflect the complexity of the IT solutions landscape in the industry, where there might be hundreds of IT solutions from different technological cycles. Executing the right of access in such an environment requires a skillset with different solutions and a holistic management of the access process, rather than considering individual systems separately.

Read the full document at the link below.