Million Euro fine against Deutsche Wohnen

Date: 05.11.2019

Responsible body: Deutsche Wohnen SE

Type of data protection violation: sensitive personal data archived without observing deletion periods

On 5 November 2019, the Berlin data protection authority imposed a fine of millions on Deutsche Wohnen in an unprecedented amount. The real estate company Deutsche Wohnen is to pay 14.5 million euros.

This one had sensitive individual-related dataDeutsche Wohnen archived data such as self-disclosures, salary statements, bank statements, extracts from employment contracts as well as tax, social security and health insurance data for years without deleting the data. Deutsche Wohnen had no legal basis for this and had not adapted its archiving system even after pressure from the data protection authority.

The fine decision is not yet legally binding, the person responsible can still appeal.

Update 11/19/19:
Deutsche Wohnen lodges an appeal against the fine (Source: Golem).

Legal basis for the fine: Article 5 and the 25 GDPR

Fines: EUR 14.5 million

Country: Germany

Source: network policy.org

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