WP29 opinion on data processing at work

Where the word “employee” is used in this Opinion, WP29 does not intend to restrict the scope of this term merely to persons with an employment contract recognized as such under applicable labour laws. Over the past decades, new business models served by different types of labour relationships, and in particular employment on a freelance basis, have become more commonplace. This Opinion is intended to cover all situations where there is an employment relationship, regardless of whether this relationship is based on an employment contract.

Guidelines 4/2019 on Article 25 Data Protection by Design and by Default Version 2.0.

3.1 Transparency [24]

_{[24]Elaboration on how to understand the concept of transparency can be found in Article 29 Working Party. “Guidelines on transparency under Regulation 2016/679”. WP 260 rev.01, 11 April 2018. ec.europa.eu/newsroom/article29/document.cfm?action=display&doc_id=51025 – endorsed by the EDPB}

65. The controller must be clear and open with the data subject about how they will collect, use and share personal data. Transparency is about enabling data subjects to understand, and if necessary, make use of their rights in Articles 15 to 22. The principle is embedded in Articles 12, 13, 14 and 34. Measures and safeguards put in place to support the principle of transparency should also support the implementation of these Articles.

66. Key design and default elements for the principle of transparency may include:

•Clarity – Information shall be in clear and plain language, concise and intelligible.

•Semantics – Communication should have a clear meaning to the audience in question.

•Accessibility – Information shall be easily accessible for the data subject.

•Contextual – Information should be provided at the relevant time and in the appropriate form.

•Relevance – Information should be relevant and applicable to the specific data subject.

•Universal design – Information shall be accessible to all data subjects, include use of machine readable languages to facilitate and automate readability and clarity.

•Comprehensible – Data subjects should have a fair understanding of what they can expect with regards to the processing of their personal data, particularly when the data subjects are children or other vulnerable groups.

• Multi-channel – Information should be provided in different channels and media, not only the textual, to increase the probability for the information to effectively reach the data subject.

• Layered – The information should be layered in a manner that resolves the tension between completeness and understanding, while accounting for data subjects’ reasonable expectations.