Praxikon tracks Article 52 (Independence) under the GDPR, alongside the EU AI Act, citing the source for every statement.
Chapter VIIn force since 25-05-2018
Official text
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Each supervisory authority shall act with complete independence in performing its tasks and exercising its powers in accordance with this Regulation.
The member or members of each supervisory authority shall, in the performance of their tasks and exercise of their powers in accordance with this Regulation, remain free from external influence, whether direct or indirect, and shall neither seek nor take instructions from anybody.
Member or members of each supervisory authority shall refrain from any action incompatible with their duties and shall not, during their term of office, engage in any incompatible occupation, whether gainful or not.
Each Member State shall ensure that each supervisory authority is provided with the human, technical and financial resources, premises and infrastructure necessary for the effective performance of its tasks and exercise of its powers, including those to be carried out in the context of mutual assistance, cooperation and participation in the Board.
Each Member State shall ensure that each supervisory authority chooses and has its own staff which shall be subject to the exclusive direction of the member or members of the supervisory authority concerned.
Each Member State shall ensure that each supervisory authority is subject to financial control which does not affect its independence and that it has separate, public annual budgets, which may be part of the overall state or national budget.
Source: EUR-Lex, Regulation (EU) 2016/679. Official text, reproduced without modification.
More case law, guidelines and fines
In addition to the overview at the bottom of this page: rulings, guidelines and fines that interpret or apply this article, newest first. Each item was checked against the official source.
The Austrian supervisory authority was not completely independent: a member was a subordinate official, its office sat within the Federal Chancellery and the Chancellor had an unconditional right to information.
Complete independence of the supervisory authority excludes any outside influence; state scrutiny of the Länder authorities for the private sector was therefore contrary to the Directive.