Estonian court throws out data watchdog's €30,000 fine on Family Foundation

Harju District Court has annulled a June 26, 2024 decision by the Data Protection Inspectorate (AKI) to fine the Family Foundation (Pere Sihtkapital) €30,000 for allegedly failing to comply with personal data processing requirements in a survey of childless individuals, the foundation announced Tuesday.
In 2023, the population policy think tank Family Foundation, acting on behalf of the University of Tartu (TÜ), requested data from the population register on thousands of childless women in Estonia and sent them a survey containing personal and sensitive questions, including why they do not have children.
AKI fined the foundation €30,000. The Family Foundation, disagreeing with AKI's decision, took the fine to court.
The Ministry of the Interior conducted an audit to assess the legality of releasing personal identification codes, email addresses, and phone numbers of thousands of women to the Family Foundation, which had unlawfully signed a contract with the University of Tartu. The audit concluded, however, that the data release was permitted under applicable law.
On Tuesday, the first-tier district court ruled to annul the fine.
Family Foundation supervisory board chair Katrin Kiisk said she was satisfied with the ruling.
"In our opinion, the evidence submitted to the court clearly demonstrated that the protection of the data held by the foundation was fully ensured," Kiisk said.
"The contact information required to conduct the study had been entrusted to the foundation by the Ministry of the Interior, having earlier determined that data protection requirements were sufficiently met," she explained.
"The foundation stored participants' data in encrypted and anonymized form," she continued. "It was made abundantly clear during the court proceedings that the board member responsible for conducting the study had fulfilled the due diligence obligation to ensure compliance with data protection requirements, including consulting repeatedly with AKI, the Interior Ministry and the [university] ethics committee prior to conducting the survey."
Foundation to move forward with research
Kiisk did express regret, however, that despite the annulment of the AKI decision, the valuable data required for fertility research has already been lost, and that the entire effort would need to be repeated.
"The moment doubts about the legitimacy of the study emerged in the media, we suspended the survey and then deleted all the data, as under the circumstances, it no longer seemed realistic to complete the study in a reasonable timeframe," she said.
The supervisory board chair added that, as the foundation has suffered material damages due to the termination of the study, it is considering whether to file a claim against the state.
The Family Foundation still intends to continue its research efforts, Kiisk noted.
"With record-low birthrates for the third year in a row, the need to research childlessness and large families is now more pressing than it was even just a few years ago," she stressed. "For this reason, we plan to take up the postponed studies again, if possible. We will review the situation in light of the court ruling and then plan how to proceed."
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Editor: Marko Tooming, Aili Vahtla