SLK reprimands online information service and sanctions hearing aid manufacturer

"Personal data may only be processed for the purpose stated when it was obtained," the principles of the Fairness Commission state. In one of the cases last year, an unnamed but well-known online information service had violated this principle, the SLK said Monday. The owner had acquired another online information service with a related industry focus. Together, they advertised a joint service package and sent corresponding advertising personally addressed also to the existing subscribers of the purchased service.

According to the Terms & Conditions on the website of the purchased information service, it was stated that personal data would be treated confidentially and not passed on to third parties. "Despite this data protection assertion, the complainant's data was passed on within the group to another company and thus to a third party," SLK states. This was inadmissible under data protection law. Thus, the online information service did not observe the principle in the context of advertising measures, which is considered unfair.

Sanction against hearing aid manufacturer

Furthermore, the SLK publishes the name and case of the manufacturer after repeated disregard of the advertising statement "the best-selling hearing aid in Switzerland". Already in May 2016, the SLK had asked the company to abandon the advertising statement. "This recommendation has been deliberately disregarded by the respondent," the SLK states. As a sanction, the case will now be made public.

Sanctions are rare at the SLK. In 2013 and 2014, sanctions were imposed in two cases each, in 2015 a total of four and last year there were three, as the spokesman, Thomas Meier, explained on request. Of the 18 appeals that the second chamber of the SLK considered in November, it approved five and rejected seven. One appeal was rejected and five decisions were appealed. (SDA)