Admissibility – Formal requirements: signature

Article(s) involved (national, EU, or other): Article 77 GDPR

Problem

In some Member States, an electronic mail is enough for validly filing a complaint with a supervisory authority (SA), while in others, the lack of a written signature on paper leads to inadmissibility of the complaint.

Ideal Solution

The procedural provision should mention the minimum formal conditions for filing a complaint with a SA. When met, the complaint should always be deemed admissible. 

Proposed Solution

Concept 2 would ensure that the national law of the filing SA is relevant for any rules on the admissability of the law and other SAs may not review the admissability.

Reference to EDPB documents / table:

EDPB Letter to the EU Commission on procedural aspects that could be harmonised at EU level (“EDPB wish list”) : FN 16, referring to EDPB copntribution to the evaluation of the GDPR, page 10: national legislation in AT, BE, BG, IT, LV, NL, PL, SI, ES foresees formal admissibility requirements. On the other hand, no admissibility requirements are foreseen in CZ, DK, DE, whereas a discretionary power regarding the assessment of admissibility is exercised in LU.