WOLFSBURG (dpa-AFX) - The VW Group has avoided a multi-million euro fine for data protection violations due to an administrative error. A fine of €4.3 million demanded by the data protection commissioner will not be pursued because the public prosecutor's office forgot to sign the decisive written statement, as a spokesperson for the Hanover public prosecutor's office confirmed at the request of the German Press Agency (dpa). The Lower Saxony political journal "Rundblick" had previously reported on this.
Specifically, the case concerns data protection violations in the investigation of the VW diesel scandal, which the state data protection commissioner had criticized. Specifically, it concerned the transfer of data to Larry Thompson, the US supervisor appointed after the diesel scandal came to light. VW had not sufficiently informed its employees about this and had thus violated the General Data Protection Regulation, according to the accusation.
VW challenged the fine in court – initially with success: the Hanover Regional Court ruled in favor of the carmaker in the first instance at the end of February. The public prosecutor's office lodged an appeal with the Higher Regional Court, but has now had to withdraw it. The reason: the statement of grounds did not contain the signature of the public prosecutor responsible, as the spokesperson admitted. A formal error was made when the appeal was lodged.
Prosecutor's office calls it an isolated case, CDU calls it a scandal
Consequence: VW does not have to pay a fine, and the regional court's ruling in favor of the Wolfsburg-based company stands. It remains unclear whether the Higher Regional Court would have ruled the same way, as there will now be no retrial. The spokesperson for the public prosecutor's office spoke of an isolated case based on a chain of unfortunate circumstances. He pointed to the high workload at the agency.
The opposition CDU faction in the state parliament called it a scandal and wants to discuss the matter in the legal committee. This is not a minor oversight, but a serious mistake that will cause massive financial damage to the state of Lower Saxony, said a spokeswoman for the faction.
Administrative court only partially upheld VW's claim
However, VW was unsuccessful in its lawsuit against the underlying data protection complaint itself, which was not decided by the regional court but by the administrative court. There, VW was only able to achieve a partial victory a week ago.
Two of the five warnings issued by Lower Saxony's data protection officer in 2023 were lifted. However, the decisive complaint regarding inadequate data protection information, for which the fine was to be imposed, was upheld. The ruling is not yet final, and VW can still appeal to the Higher Administrative Court. However, this will no longer have any impact on the fine.
The diesel scandal came to light in the fall of 2015 after manipulations in emissions tests on VW diesel engines were uncovered in the US. The legal consequences of the emissions scandal have cost VW more than 32 billion euros to date. /fjo/DP/jha
