The Voivodeship Administrative Court in Warsaw once again confirmed the findings of the Polish SA

The Voivodeship Administrative Court in Warsaw on 21 June 2023 (case no. II SA/Wa 150/23) dismissed the complaint of P4 Sp. z o.o. with its registered office in Warsaw, the legal successor of Virgin Mobile Polska Sp. z o.o., against the decision of the Polish supervisory authority imposing a fine of almost PLN 1.6 million on this controller.

In addition, the Office has recently received a justification of the judgement of the Voivodeship Administrative Court in Warsaw of 15 November 2022 (case no. II SA/Wa 546/22) dismissing the complaint of Santander Bank Polska against the decision of the Polish supervisory authority imposing a fine of over PLN 545 000 on this controller. A full discussion of this case is available in the June edition of the Polish SA’s bulletin ('Biuletyn UODO').

Once again, the Office is winning cases before the courts. In the first quarter of this year, there were as many as 32 such cases - "This is yet another proceedings in which the court has agreed with the Polish supervisory authority. We are glad that more and more often the courts share the view of the supervisory authority. A line of jurisprudence is slowly taking shape, which will to a large extent influence the legal certainty in the area of personal data protection" - said Jakub Groszkowski, Deputy President of the Personal Data Protection Office.

This is confirmed by data showing that in the first quarter of 2023, the number of judgments upholding the decisions of the President of the Personal Data Protection Office is more than twice as high as the number of judgments overturning the decisions of the supervisory authority, of which there were 14. The data for the entire previous year is analogous - 142 judgments upholding the decisions of the President of the Polish supervisory authority and 57 overturning the decisions.

- “This is very important, as the Personal Data Protection Office, when issuing its decisions, always takes into account the welfare of individuals and indicates that persons subject to a breach must face the consequences of the controller's action or omission” added Jakub Groszkowski, Deputy President of the Personal Data Protection Office.

This issue was also raised during the Conference 'Challenges for the protection of personal data in the light of  the case law of the court, organised on 31 March 2023, during which the key challenges for the personal data protection system in light of 25 years of its  functioning in our country were pointed out.

The meeting launched a broader discussion on the subject, which could ultimately lead to strengthening of the protection of individuals in relation to the processing of their personal data. The supervisory authority assured that it remains open to working together to ensure real protection of citizens' personal data and legal certainty in this area.