- Municipalities are responsible for the collection and transportation of municipal waste and must cover the costs by charging the polluter.
- The release of data to municipalities serves to enforce federal and cantonal environmental protection laws and is subject to data protection principles.
- Migros had to provide identification data (Cumulus card numbers) as this was necessary and proportionate to identify the waste producers.
The municipalities are responsible for the collection of municipal waste and its transport to the waste facilities set up by the canton; at the same time, they have to ensure that the total costs of waste disposal are covered and, in this respect, have to charge the polluter. The data disclosure ordered against the Federation of Migros Cooperatives is thus mainly related to the enforcement of federal and cantonal environmental protection legislation (E. 2).
This is therefore data processing in first-instance administrative proceedings, which is why the principles of data protection law must be observed. Obtaining this personal data for the sole purpose of sanctioning the behavior of the waste producers, on the other hand, would probably not fall within the scope of the Data Protection Act (E. 3.1).
Everyone is obliged to provide the information required for the enforcement of environmental protection legislation (Art. 46 para. 1 EPA). In principle, anyone who has information that is relevant to enforcement is obliged to provide information. In compliance with the principle of proportionality, however, only the information required for enforcement may be requested (E. 3.2).
Since the municipality could not independently identify the waste producers due to the contents of the waste bags deposited without fee stamps, it was and is indispensable that their identification was based on the Cumulus card numbers found in the waste. Migros is therefore obliged to hand over the data it requested (E. 4).
Source: Canton Basel-Landschaft – Kantonsgericht BL: Case law 2007