TLS Contact group, an agency in Morocco that collects visa applications on behalf of five European embassies, recently experienced an applicants’ personal data leak, which authorities swiftly reacted to.
France, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom and Belgium all have outsourced some of their consular services, namely visa procedures, to the TLS Contact group.
The group raised suspicion when it was revealed that they have a regular transfer of images extracted from video surveillance recordings to two government institutions abroad, transmitted every 5 minutes.
The National Commission for the Protection of Personal Data (CNDP) singled out the group to investigate the leak claims, launching a wider investigation into other intermediary companies for visa application processing.
President of the CNDP Omar Seghrouchni said that with regard to the TLS Contact case, it was found that “there are many personal data processes practiced despite not having been authorized by the body.3
In a statement to Hespress AR, Seghrouchni said that the company in question “admitted to regularly sending, every five minutes, images extracted from surveillance camera recordings to two government institutions abroad”
“The allegation was declared and confirmed by the person in charge of the processing, during a hearing held on January 6, 2023.”
The head of the committee, tasked with verifying that the processing of personal data is carried out legally and does not affect private life, basic human rights, or freedoms, said that the transferred data is still under investigation, declining to reveal the foreign governments in question.
With regard to the penalties that the company may face, Seghrouchni said that the violation related to the initiation of processing personal data without notifying it with the CNDP is punishable by a financial fine ranging from MAD 10,000 to MAD 100,000.
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