With an order of July 17, 2024, the Italian Data Protection Authority (“DPA”) has fined Selectra
S.p.A. Euro 80,000 for unlawful processing of personal data. The case originates from an
agent’s claim that Selectra (i) had maintained his email account active after the termination of
his collaboration with the company; (ii) had used a specific software (MailStore) to back up the
contents of his email account for three years; (iii) had used his data in a judicial proceeding, in
which he was accused, along with other individuals, of business secrets misappropriation and
further unlawful conduct.

The DPA reaffirmed various key principles, applicable to employees and self-employed
personnel:

– The DPA has offered some important guidelines concerning the balance between the right
to defense and the right to privacy. According to the DPA, it is admittable to access
personal data to protect one’s right in court, only if the process is already
pending before the court or there are realistic possibilities to start the claim.

– Corporate email accounts cannot be used as archives. It is a company’s duty to
introduce suitable document management systems capable of archiving documents and
employees/collaborators’ email accounts cannot be used for such purposes.

– Personnel must be provided with an information notice which clarifies what is
processed, on which basis and how. Selectra, instead, had backed up corporate email
accounts, with the possibility of retaining their contents for 3 years after termination of the
employment/collaboration contract, without offering any kind of information to its
employees and collaborators.

The DPA concludes that the right to privacy cannot be sacrificed in pursuit of abstract and
indeterminate protection purposes. Incidentally, the DPA emphasized again that it is
forbidden to use tools that carry out monitoring of employees’ activity in breach of
Article 4, L. 300/1970 (Italian Statute of Workers’ Rights), which admits the use of systems
for remote employee monitoring only for production, organizational, labour and safety needs
and after an agreement with trade unions. (Instead, Selectra, using the software MailStore,
was able to trace meticulously, and even after a long time, the activities carried out by
employees in breach of the Italian Statute of Workers’ Rights).