Use case: Find out agency where one can submit a complaint for foreign companies

[rugk]

One use case is a problem I have not seen covered yet on this website.

Say I have a problem cough cough with a phone manufacturer who lists no agency in their privacy policy, where I can submit a complaint (GDPR art 77) to.

What I did

• search did not help and I got some buisness whatever websites or official websites of the government of the Netherlands
• Search the Datarequests company database. Obviously I cannot find every company, so hmm…
• I could find some Dutch company, but that did not seem to have any agency for complains in the listing?
• Now I doubt whether I even need to contact the privacy agency of country where the company is from…
• More confused I now find this with the search initially linked: https://datalekken.autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl/actionpage?1
• I have Dutch text and some actionpage??
• Now using that website I get to a ~~netherlandish~~ Dutch FAQ, oh my dear…
• I seem to have found an online form, but that is still not available in English… :cry:

Ideas for solution

• The simplest solution that would have helped me at least somewhat were a list of all privacy agencies you have recorded, with contact details, things one may have to be aware of etc.
• Or… to solve the question "Where do I even need to report my problem?" a "complaint guider" would be helpful just as you have for German companies, where you can select the company and where it is placed, where you are placed etc. However, without a starting point of finding my company in your list, I have/find no such thing. To solve this, there should be a general entry point, I can always find out by myself/know (in most cases of not-so-big companies) where the company is located. Also, of course there can still be some nudging to enter the company first to find it in the DB, in case there are some special subsidiaries like Facebook in Ireland etc. Just have a "Did not found company? Still want to complain?" button there then… (as I said, it's not realistic to have any company on earth in your DB)

[baltpeter]

We do actually have pretty much everything you're looking for already. :) (Let me know though, if I missed anything!)

• Our intended "entry point" for people wanting to learn about complaints is this fairly extensive post (linked in the footer) that explains how complaints work and which authority to complain to.
• That page also contains our supervisory authority finder which is a wizard that guides you through finding the correct authority. The same wizard is shown when generating a complaint from the “My requests” page.
• If you don't want to use the wizard, we have a list of all supervisory authorities and their contact details. Each authority also has a page (here's the one for the Dutch DPA similar to the companies. These pages currently don't allow comments (for people to share their experience and tips etc.) but @mal-tee asked about that recently and is working on enabling that, I think.

• I could find some Dutch company, but that did not seem to have any agency for complains in the listing?
• Now I doubt whether I even need to contact the privacy agency of country where the company is from…

We don't actually list the responsible SVAs in the company records. That's due to Art. 77(1) GDPR which gives you the right to choose the SVA. You can complain to the authority “in the Member State of [your] habitual residence, place of work or place of the alleged infringement”. From our experience, it is generally preferable to choose to complain to the authority in your own country (due to the struggles you explained). They will then translate and forward your complaint but stay involved in the complaint process. They are also your only point of contact (the “One Stop Shop” principle) which makes the process a lot easier for you. That's also what the SVA finder mentioned above will recommend.

[mal-tee]

OT:

Thank you for the FP3 Link! Seems like I might want to file a complaint too as I am using that phone right now..

Feel free to join our Matrix-Chat (if you want to share or talk about [your] complaints), would be very much appreciated.

[baltpeter]

These pages currently don't allow comments (for people to share their experience and tips etc.) but @mal-tee asked about that recently and is working on enabling that, I think.

Implemented in #530.

[rugk]

We do actually have pretty much everything you're looking for already. :) (Let me know though, if I missed anything!)

Awesome to hear and it indeed is the thing I've looked for, especially the finder. Then the only problem seems to be that it is not sufficiently linked or so. At least the finder, was not findable… :wink: It also only mentions "supervisory agencies" in the footer, not that there is a finder to-be-found. :upside_down_face:

[mal-tee]

We are open for suggestions :D

[rugk]

Well… I don't have more concrete ideas than already mentioned. At least renaming and direct-linking to the finder would help.