On November 13, 2024, the Finnish Data Protection Authority issued its decision regarding the complaint filed by an individual consumer customer on July 5, 2018 regarding the electronic mailbox of the service earlier known as Netposti. The authority’s decision focuses on the onboarding to an electronic mailbox and processing of personal data. According to the authority’s view, informing consumer customers about the onboarding and functionality of the mailbox has not been sufficient. As part of the decision, Posti has been ordered an administrative fine of EUR 2.4 million.
Posti considers the authority’s decision unfounded and the administrative fine unreasonable and will appeal the decision and bring the matter to court for a decision.
“We have complied with law all the time. We have constantly developed and improved the functionalities of the electronic mailbox to be as customer-oriented, informative and secure as possible. The authority has considered the matter for over six years and began processing it two years after the complaint was filed. Since then, we have actively tried to have a conversation with the authority to clarify the potential matter, but for years the authority refused to give instructions or its preliminary assessment on the matter despite Posti's specifical requests”, says Posti’s General Counsel Kaarina Ståhlberg.
According to the Data Protection Authority, the size of the administrative fine was impacted, among other things, by the long duration of the alleged data protection violation. The long duration of the authorities’ proceedings and the unpredictability of the process endanger the legal security and protection.
“OmaPosti, which is widely used, is a secure application that is valued by our customers and consumers. It is our honor to offer a reliable and consumer-friendly digital service. We consider the processing of the authority of several years to be unreasonable, especially when it comes to digital services that evolve rapidly, as with which we are creating new types of solutions desired by consumers”, Ståhlberg states.