Faroe Islands court fines Starvsportal.fo 7,500 kroner for data breaches

The owner of Starvsportal.fo has been fined 7,500 kroner for unlawfully processing job applicants’ personal data. The Faroe Islands court set the fine at 20,000 kroner but reduced it because of lengthy proceedings, KVF reports.

The case concerned 16 applications submitted through the website’s “Quick Apply” feature between June 9 and July 24, 2022. Starvsportal.fo lists job vacancies and allows users to apply for them.

The court found that the applicants’ personal data had been processed without a valid legal basis. They had also not received information they were entitled to under data protection law, and the company had failed to keep records of its data processing.

The Data Protection Authority referred the case to police in December 2022 and initially recommended a fine of 100,000 kroner. The court considered 20,000 kroner appropriate, citing the company’s small, one-person operation, the 16 applicants affected and the fact that the breaches were due to negligence. It then reduced the fine to 7,500 kroner because the accused was not responsible for the delay in handling the case.

The Data Protection Authority said it agreed that a 20,000-kroner fine was appropriate given the company’s financial circumstances and the specific details of the case.