Transport

No breach of data protection in residents discount check

The Balearic parliament had claimed that there was a violation of data protection. | Michel's - Archive

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPalma03/02/2020 10:30

The national ministry of development, as was, did not breach the law when ordering an investigation into incomes of travellers benefiting from the 75% residents discount for flights.

The Data Protection Agency believes that the minister, José Luis Ábalos, acted correctly in wanting a check to determine the relationship between incomes and the number of flights. The AIReF Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility had advised that there should be a check.

The agency's study of the matter arose as the consequence of a complaint from the Balearic parliament. This claimed that Ábalos had violated data protection; parliament therefore wanted there to be an investigation.

Ábalos had told Congress that the check was warranted as there could be "perverse" use of the discount, which is a Spanish government subsidy and is controlled by what was the ministry of development, which has since been broken up; Ábalos is now minister for transport, mobility and the urban agenda.

The director of the Data Protection Agency, Mar España Marti, has stated that there was an absence of "rational indication" of an infraction. She has exonerated Ábalos, who insisted that there was no treatment of data of a "personal nature". The advice from AIReF was in the context of the 2019 Spending Review. The ministry was sent data by the Tax Agency which were kept "anonymous".