The National Court has inflicted a blow to the Valencia City Council, led by Joan Ribó (Compromís). The magistrates of the Contentious-Administrative Chamber have concluded that the local government violated the data protection law in 2017 by preparing a survey on the Fallas group in which information was collected on the ideology and beliefs of citizens. As stated in the ruling, dated March 12, the City Council committed a very serious offense, since it collected the data to treat it “without your express written consent.”
The judges reproach the City Council for not taking the appropriate measures so that the company hired to prepare the survey, Invest, worked with the information in the correct way. “He should have given the corresponding instructions, which he did not do,” the magistrates point out in their ruling, where they confirm a previous resolution of the Spanish Agency for Data Protection (AEPD), which already considered in 2018 that the regulations were breached.
The epicenter of the conflict is located in a survey promoted by the Consistory after Unesco granted the Fallas the status of Intangible Heritage of Humanity. The local government then launched a strategic plan to analyze the impact this festival had on the environment and determine “the keys to its future.” The initiative included a poll that, among other questions, asked the participants if they felt “more Valencian or Spanish”, if they were Catholics or believers of other religions, about which party or coalition would they like to win the following municipal elections and “if Valencian should be the only vehicular language of the Fallas ”.
The survey was carried out between May 18 and June 13, 2017, when it was paralyzed after several news related to the investigation was published. At that time, responses had already been collected from 963 people – out of the 1,100 expected respondents – who were also asked for their name, address and telephone number, although only the latter data was mandatory. “The Data Protection Law requires express written consent for the treatment of ideology and religion data, thus reinforcing consent,” recalls the National Court to the City Council. The sentence can be appealed to the Supreme.
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