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Praxikon

Ruling

SyRI: legislation for a government risk model without insight into indicators and model offers insufficient safeguards

Date
Status
final
Body
Rechtbank Den Haag, NJCM c.s. en FNV tegen de Staat der Nederlanden
Reference
Rechtbank Den Haag 5 februari 2020, ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2020:865

What it is about

The court reviewed the legislation for the System Risk Indication (SyRI), which the government used to link data to flag risks of benefit and allowance fraud, against Article 8 ECHR. It drew on the GDPR principles of transparency, purpose limitation and data minimisation and held that the legislation is not sufficiently transparent and verifiable. Without insight into the risk indicators and the risk model, or further statutory safeguards compensating for that lack of insight, it cannot be established that the interference with private life is always proportionate and therefore necessary. The court declared Article 65 of the SUWI Act and Chapter 5a of the SUWI Decree non-binding for breach of Article 8(2) ECHR.

What this means in practice

A public body using a risk model on citizens must be able to show which indicators and which model are used, or have statutory safeguards that compensate for the lack of insight. Transparency about the model is not an extra but a condition for lawful use.

The GDPR articles concerned

Source: Rechtspraak.nl, ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2020:865, rechtsoverwegingen 6.86, 6.95 en 7.2checked on 10 October 2026

Summary and practical reading by Praxikon. Not legal advice; the source prevails.

Connections

What connects to this development

Case law8 of 10

Guidelines

Enforcement and fines8 of 11

Legislation in motion