Consultation response: A single responsibility for the supervision of personal integrity (SOU 2016:65)
IT&Telecom companies have been given the opportunity to respond to the referral SOU 2016:65 - A single responsibility for supervision of personal integrity. The response is prepared by Datarådet - a member council within IT&Telekomföretagen.
IT&Telekomföretagen supports the report's conclusion that responsibility for all supervision of the processing of personal data should not be concentrated in a single authority. The inquiry correctly argues that certain forms of personal data processing require specialist knowledge and experience of the specific activity under review. A single supervisory authority may be less able to understand and review such activities. Should this nevertheless happen, it is important to ensure that relevant expertise and accumulated knowledge are transferred to the single supervisory authority. On the other hand, as the investigation proposes, there are reasons to transfer the supervisory responsibility for the rules on subscriber lists and cookies from PTS to the Swedish Data Protection Authority.
IT&Telecom companies also support the introduction of the consultation and transfer procedure for supervisory matters proposed by the report. There are still issues where the intersection between general personal data and sector-specific regulation is unclear and where a well-developed consultation procedure between the authorities is necessary to achieve effective supervision in relation to the companies concerned.
The inquiry's remit included mapping the supervision of the processing of personal data currently carried out by a central supervisory authority with overall supervisory responsibility, and by a number of other authorities with supervisory responsibility in specific areas.
The inquiry has also been tasked with analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of a more unified supervisory responsibility and to investigate how the protection of the individual's personal integrity can be strengthened by the supervision of the processing of personal data being concentrated to a greater extent with one authority. In addition, the inquiry has been tasked with submitting proposals to ensure that Sweden meets some of the requirements placed on national supervisory authorities in the General Data Protection Regulation and the new Data Protection Directive that have resulted from the EU's data protection reform.