Draft profiling restrictions no risk to research, says Esomar

Esomar said it had been informed by the Council of Europe that the use of profiling techniques for sampling purposes are not covered by the proposals, which were made as a recommendation to its member states and which seek to prevent companies or organisations from unfairly discriminating against people based on automated analysis of personal or behavioural data.

Esomar and Efamro, the European Federation of Associations of Market Research Organisations, raised their concerns about the draft restrictions in a joint submission to the European Commission in July. They were particularly concerned that the definition of profiling was writ so broad “that many research activities would be included”.

According to their submission: “Article 15 of Directive 95/46/EC provides that Member States shall grant the right to every person not to be subject to a decision which produces legal effects concerning him or significantly affects him and which is based solely on automated processing of data intended to evaluate certain personal aspects relating to him, such as his performance at work, creditworthiness, reliability, conduct, etc.

“We would urge the commission to not restrict profiling for purposes such as market, social and opinion research, which do not produce legal effects concerning data subjects or significantly affect data subjects,” said Esomar and Efamro. “If the commission decides to introduce profiling restrictions, the definition of profiling used should make clear that commercial profiling activities are being restricted, not other legitimate profiling activities such as research.”

In a statement released this week, Esomar said it had previously received an indication from the Council of Europe that sampling and surveys would fall outside the scope of the profiling restrictions. The council has since confirmed that “the collection and processing of personal data with a view to setting up a sample or the collection and processing of personal data for statistical surveys or for the production of statistical results are not covered by the draft recommendation on profiling”.

Esomar notes that while Council of Europe recommendations are not legally binding, they do have “strong influence” on legislation introduced within European Union member states.