Press Release: Data Protection: European Commission to refer Austria to Court for lack of independence of data protection authority

The European Commission has decided to refer Austria to the Court of Justice regarding the lack of an independent data protection authority. The Commission considers that provisions setting up the Austrian data protection authority do not conform to EU rules, which require Member States to establish a completely independent supervisory body to monitor the application of the 1995 Data Protection Directive (Directive 95/46/EC).