WRITTEN QUESTION E-1462/97 by Cristiana Muscardini (NI) to the Commission (28 April 1997)

Subject: Violation of the right of access to personal data by Telecom Italia

Over a year ago Telecom Italia S.p.A. began distributing detailed bills, which list all the items contained in each bill, including all local and non-local costing more than a given amount. However, such lists are incomplete, in that the last three or four figures of the number called are replaced with asterisks or other characters, making it impossible to identify calls.

Telecom Italia S.p.A. claims that this 'truncation' procedure is required under unspecified Community directives.

Given that it is totally impossible to obtain a clear and full list of calls and that the present 'comprehensive' invoices will soon be replaced with these new 'truncated' lists, will the Commission state

1. to what Community directives Telecom Italia S.p.A. might be referring?

2. whether this procedure is contrary to Article 12 of Directive 95/46/EC ((OJ L 281, 23.11.1995, p. 31. )) of 24 October 1995, with particular reference to the second indent of paragraph (a)?

3. should the procedure be contrary to the aforementioned directive, what representations it intends to make to Telecom Italia S.p.A. to ensure protection of the confidentiality of personal data and the resulting right of access to such data 'in an intelligible form'?

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission (30 June 1997)

Three Community texts, one adopted and two proposed, are relevant to the matter raised by the Honourable Member, namely Directive 95/46/EC ((OJ L 281, 23.11.1995. )) of the Parliament and the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, the proposal for a directive concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the telecommunications sector, and the proposal for a directive on the application of open network provision (ONP) to voice telephony and on universal service for telecommunications in a competitive environment (replacing Directive 95/62/EC ((OJ C 371, 9.12.1996. ))). None of these texts makes compulsory the truncation of the numbers of the called subscribers mentioned in itemised bills.

However, common position (EC) No 57/96 ((OJ C 315, 24.10.1996. )) adopted by the Council on 12 September 1996 with a view to adopting the directive concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the telecommunications sector (accepted in second reading by the Parliament on 16 January 1997, subject to certain amendments) provides that subscribers shall have the right to receive non-itemised bills and that Member States shall apply national provisions in order to reconcile the rights of subscribers receiving itemised bills with the right to privacy of calling users and called subscribers. A recital to the proposed directive as included in the common position indicates that this can be achieved 'by ensuring that sufficient alternative modalities for communications or payments are available to such users or subscribers' or by requiring 'the deletion of a certain number of digits from the called numbers mentioned in itemised bills'.

This means that where there are no good alternatives (such as calling cards, pre-paid telephone cards, or payment by credit card) allowing users private access to public telephone services without having their calls mentioned on bills addressed to other people (the subscriber who pays the bill), Member States may require the deletion of digits on telephone bills.

The deletion of digits in itemised bills is not in itself contrary to Article 12 of Directive 95/46/EC. This provision grants to every individual a right to obtain communication from data controllers of any personal data relating to him which undergo processing. Such a right of access remains applicable to the processing of data in the telecommunication sector. Data subjects are therefore entitled to exercise the rights conferred by Article 12 of Directive 95/46/EC according to the procedures established by the Member States in the respect of Community law. However, Article 13 of Directive 95/46/EC authorises Member State to limit the right of access in order to protect the rights and freedoms of others.

One further proposed legal provision which has to be taken into account, is the requirement of the proposed amendment to the ONP voice telephony directive for itemised bills to show a sufficient level of detail to allow verification and control of the charges incurred. However, this requirement is subject to rights related to the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy.

Clearly, various rights need to be balanced and the market situation, in particular the availability of alternative payment facilities for telecommunication services, needs to be taken into account. A certain margin of discretion is therefore left to the Member States.