Summary of the Opinion of the European Data Protection Supervisor on the Proposal for a Regulation as regards conversion of the Farm Accountancy Data Network into a Farm Sustainability Data Network

(2022/C 440/06)

(The full text of this Opinion can be found in English, French and German on the EDPS website https://edps.europa.eu)

On 22 June 2022, the European Commission issued a Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Regulation (EC) No 1217/2009 as regards conversion of the Farm Accountancy Data Network into a Farm Sustainability Data Network (1).

The Proposal aims to regulate the processing of personal data in the context of the collection of farm level economic, environmental and social data as well as the further management and use of such data in the Farm Sustainability Data Network (‘FSDN’). In this regard, the EDPS welcomes the explicit references to the need to comply with both the GDPR (2) and with the EUDPR (3). The EDPS also welcomes that the Proposal contains references to the GDPR and EUDPR when providing definitions of relevant terms such as ‘personal data’ and ‘processing’. However, in the interest of legal certainty, the EDPS strongly recommends revisiting the proposed definitions to ensure that both the GDPR and EUDPR are referenced in a systematic and consistent manner and to avoid introducing definitions of concepts already covered by those instruments.

The EDPS positively notes that in case individual data will be shared by the Commission or liaison agencies, the data of the farmers and all other individual details obtained pursuant to the Proposal would be anonymised or pseudonymised. Both anonymisation and pseudonymisation are important techniques to mitigate data protection risks. That being said, the EDPS considers it important to preserve a clear distinction between these concepts, as pseudonymous data can still be related to an identifiable individual and therefore qualifies as personal data.

As regards the publication of FSDN data, the EDPS recalls that any requirement to publish personal data should, in addition to being provided by law, also fulfil the other requirements arising from Article 52(1) of the Charter and Article 6(3) of the GDPR. The EDPS considers that the Proposal, in its current form, does not provide a specific reason of public interest justifying the publication personal data in identifiable form, even if the data were to be pseudonymised prior to publication. The EDPS therefore recommends specifying that only duly anonymised FSDN data may be made publically available.

The EDPS considers that certain specifications regarding the processing of personal data should be addressed by the Proposal itself rather than by way of delegated acts. In particular, the EDPS considers that the categories of personal data, as well as the specific purposes for which they may be processed, should be specified directly in the Proposal. Furthermore, the EDPS recommends specifying (criteria to determine) the retention period for the relevant categories of personal data and clarifying the roles of the actors involved. Finally, insofar as the Proposal aims to establish an IT system for the purpose of linking databases, the EDPS recommends including in the Proposal a high level description of the IT tool, including data protection roles and responsibilities and relevant applicable safeguards.

1. INTRODUCTION

1. On 22 June 2022, the European Commission issued a Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Regulation (EC) No 1217/2009 as regards conversion of the Farm Accountancy Data Network into a Farm Sustainability Data Network (‘the Proposal’).

2. The main objective of the Proposal is to amend Council Regulation (EC) No 1217/2009 ( 4 ) in order to convert the Farm Accountancy Data Network (‘FADN’) into a Farm Sustainability Data Network (‘FSDN’), with a view to collect farm level data on sustainability. The conversion would also contribute to the improvement of advisory services to farmers and benchmarking of farm performance.

3. Data are currently collected mainly to assess economic aspects of agricultural holdings, while there is a need to assess the overall sustainability of the holding, including environmental data linked to soil, air, water and biodiversity, as well as data covering the social dimension of farming. The conversion to a FSDN would enable the benchmarking of farm performance against regional, national and sectorial averages. Regarding accountancy data, accounts of agricultural holdings constitute the basic source for any assessment of incomes on agricultural holdings or study of their business operation. The information collected could also be used to provide personalised advisory services and feedback to farmers with the aim to improve the agricultural holdings’ sustainability ( 5 )

4. The Proposal would also change the way the data is collected, providing inter alia for interoperability with other systems containing farm data, making it possible to combine data originally collected for different purposes. To this end, a unique farm ID would be introduced. In addition, the Proposal also mandates the publication of FSDN data.

5. The present Opinion of the EDPS is issued in response to a consultation by the European Commission of 22 June 2022, pursuant to Article 42(1) of EUDPR. In this regard, the EDPS invites the co-legislators to include an explicit reference to this consultation in one of the Recitals of the Proposal.

4. CONCLUSIONS

32. In light of the above, the EDPS recommends: a) to revisit the proposed definitions to ensure that both the GDPR and EUDPR are referenced in a systematic and consistent manner and to avoid introducing definitions of concepts already covered by those instruments; b) amending Article 16(2) and recital (8) of the Proposal to remove any suggestion that pseudonymisation would avoid the possibility of identification; c) specifying in Article 16 of the Proposal that only duly anonymised FSDN data may be made publically available; d) specifying the categories of personal data so as to ensure that the processing of personal data is limited to what is directly relevant and necessary to accomplish the specified purposes of the Proposal ; e) specifying all the purposes for which personal data may be processed in the enacting terms of the Proposal; f) establishing a retention period for the relevant categories of personal data concerned, or at least laying down criteria to determine such periods, taking into account the purposes of the processing; g) clearly assigning the roles of the various actors involved as controller, joint controller or processor; h) insofar as the Proposal aims to establish an IT system for the purpose of linking databases, including in the Proposal a high level description of the IT tool, including data protection roles and responsibilities and relevant applicable safeguards.

Brussels, 11 August 2022. Wojciech Rafał WIEWIÓROWSKI

(1) COM(2022) 296 final.

(2) Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation) (OJ L 119, 4.5.2016, p. 1).

(3) Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC (OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39).

(4) Council Regulation (EC) No 1217/2009 of 30 November 2009 setting up a network for the collection of accountancy data on the incomes and business operation of agricultural holdings in the European Community (OJ L 328, 15.12.2009, p. 27).

(5) Recital (4) of the Proposal.