Ten Dutch municipalities fined for illegally processing sensitive information about Muslim communities

The Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) has issued fines, totaling €250,000, to ten municipalities for collecting and processing sensitive information about Muslim residents without their consent or knowledge.

The privacy and data protection regulator is imposing €25,000 fines on the cities of Delft, Ede, Eindhoven, Haarlemmermeer, Hilversum, Huizen, Gooise Meren, Tilburg, Veenendaal, and Zoetermeer.

For a long time, these municipalities monitored members of Muslim communities as part of an investigation into alleged terrorism. The government and National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security (NCTV) pushed for a robust local approach to detecting radicalization and preventing travel abroad. Municipalities were given a key role in this.

Numerous municipalities chose to hire a research agency to gather intelligence about Islamic communities, including names, photos, information about family members, which movement of Islam they adhere to, and the mosque they visit.

In some cases, detailed personal profiles of individuals ended up in the reports. A limited number of reports were then sent to law enforcement authorities, the NCTV, and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment.

“People in Islamic communities were investigated without their knowledge. This involved reports containing sensitive data about their religious beliefs and other personal information about them and their families. The municipalities had no grounds whatsoever for obtaining this information. The privacy of the people affected was seriously violated. This has damaged trust in many municipalities,” DPA Chairman Aleid Wolfsen says in a statement.

The involved municipalities weren’t allowed to process this sensitive information, which is an infringement of Articles 5, 6, and 9 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). According to the privacy supervisor, they were insufficiently aware of their own role and responsibility, and have acknowledged that their approach was wrong. They have already taken steps to repair their relationship with the Muslim community.

Several municipalities, including Delft and Tilburg, have apologized for the investigation that was conducted into the Islamic community.

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