A decision by the Federal Administrative Court (BVerwG), which is considered to be overburdened, can take time. Until the legal clarification, profiling – the use of personal shopping data – will be suspended for some of the customers, it could go down by almost half.
The reason for the criminal decision of the data protection authority (DSB) on July 26th is that “the declarations of consent obtained from customers for the customer loyalty program between May 2019 and February 2020 did not meet the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR),” the authority said on Tuesday the APA. This was particularly the case because, in addition to participation in the program, the consent also included so-called “profiling”, whereby the data left behind during purchases were merged and evaluated in order to determine customer preferences and to be able to set targeted advertising measures.
Concrete purchasing patterns can be traced
“This also makes it possible to understand specific ‘purchasing patterns’ of individual people,” said the data protection authority. And further: “Due to the design of the declarations of consent, it was to be assumed that customers gave their consent to profiling without being aware of it.”
The DSB complained about cases in which registrations for the club were made via a folder (flyer) or via the website. It is said to be a total of 2.2 to 2.3 million people, but the approval rate for profiling was generally only 80 percent, as the jö Bonus Club management told journalists on Tuesday.
For the other jö Club members who were won through the other two channels – app and digital registration points from Rewe’s partners – “the profiling continues”, says Hanna Maier from the jö Club management.
No personal offers
Where profiling is suspended, on the other hand, bonus points can still be collected and redeemed, but for the time being there are no offers based on personal shopping data, i.e. sometimes also none of the regular percentage discounts for which the redeem vouchers are sent by post, according to Mario Rauch from the jö -Club executive suite: “That also depends on the profiling, which we have stopped with those affected. We put it on hold until we have clarified.”
One is “optimistic” and “quite sure” that one will be successful with the complaint against the penal decision – the complaint has not yet been filed, one is still within the deadline, said lawyer Robert Keisler from the law firm CMS Reich-Rohrwig Hainz who represents the jö Bonus Club in this matter.
Rauch said that from those affected by web and flyer registrations, they wanted to get their consent to profiling again, but at the moment it was not yet known exactly how this was possible. Although some of the customers could agree via the app, the heavily affected Flyer customers are often difficult to reach. A “mass mail to everyone” is also not possible if you want to adhere to the GDPR to the full, so lawyer Keisler.
“Penalty too high for sales of 2.5 million euros”
Maier emphasized that in the customer program founded in 2019, the focus was always on the customers’ needs – this also includes the safe and careful handling of data. At the time, the DSB was also given advice, as the GDPR was only a year old, but unfortunately that was refused. Originally the DSB objected to all four channels, later it was only about the website and the folders (flyers).
According to Rauch, the GDPR is considered to be an important law, data protection is a valuable asset that must be protected. The jö Club members could have activated, but also deactivated, the tailoring of offers to personal preferences. You don’t sell any data to third parties, and that’s where it stays, emphasized Maier. She and her manager colleague see the fine of 2 million euros as too high; The most recent balance sheet, from 2018, presented in the DSB proceedings, showed an annual turnover of 2.5 million euros. “If you take away a 2 million fine, it’s too high.” “Our Ö-Bonus Club GmbH” is a 100 percent subsidiary of Rewe International DienstleistungsgesmbH, based in Wiener Neudorf.
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
