SRI intervened in favor of Vodafone in a process in which Vodafone received from the National Authority for the Supervision of the Processing of Personal Data a request to delete the personal data of the subscribers. ANSPDCP asked Vodafone to delete the personal data of the subscribers, regarding the personal numerical code, but those from SRI claim that this measure would affect the operator's obligation to help the Romanian Information Service.
The SRI says that Vodafone has the legal obligation to provide support to state bodies with attributions in the field of national defense and security, and what the ANSPDCP is asking is contrary to this legislation, which is more important than the GDPR. The SRI says that the deletion of this data would affect its ability to fulfill its duties regarding the defense of Romania's national security, and the court appealed to judge the case agreed with the Vodafone lawyers.
SRI: UNEXPECTED Decision In Favor of Vodafone
The SRI is obliged to request information from mobile phone operators in Romania in order to carry out its activities in the various missions it carries out, whether it is about anti-terror or any other kind. If Vodafone, Orange, Digi, or Telekom were obliged to delete the identification data, through CNP, of the subscribers, then the work of the SRI would become all the more difficult, maybe even impossible, so it was mandatory to protect the legal rights that the service has them.
"Therefore, it was requested to note that from address no. xxxxxx/19.06.2018 issued by the Romanian Information Service results, beyond any doubt, that "the deletion/destruction, by your company, of the personal data of the subscribers regarding the personal numerical code (CNP) and other general data with an identification function of general applicability, is likely to affect both your fulfillment of the legal obligation to provide support to state bodies with attributions in the field of national defense and security, as well as the fulfillment by the Romanian Intelligence Service of circumscribed attributions the activity of achieving national security»."
The SRI does not make its activity public in Romania, but the intervention for those from Vodafone was based on the protection of legal rights, and the prevention of the application of similar decisions for other mobile operators. If Vodafone had lost the process of contesting the decision taken by ANSPDCP, then SRI would have had difficulties in requesting subscriber identification information from the other mobile operators in Romania in the future.
