Data protection law is limited to the protection of natural, living persons. The integral and foundational regulations for the public sector can be found in the EU General Data Protection Regulation and national data protection laws of each member country. Alongside these regulations, each sector has its own range of regulations that have their foundations in different laws.

As all data processed by public bodies constitutes an encroachment on the fundamental right to informational self-determination, people must grant legal permission for each individual instance their data is processed. There are many laws regulating data processing in the public sector. For TU Dresden, the Act on the Autonomy of Institutions of Higher Education in the Free State of Saxony also contains sector-specific regulations on data protection.

TU Dresden’s Data Protection Officer is tasked with regulating compliance with data protection law at the university as well as ensuring that TU Dresden employees are familiar with the legal and statutory provisions on data protection and the specific requirements for data protection in their field of activity. The Data Protection Officer is not subject to any direction or instruction from others and must maintain confidentiality.

If any person is of the opinion that TU Dresden has infringed their rights to informational self-determination due to the processing of their personal data, they may contact TU Dresden’s Data Protection Officer. Moreover, they have the right to request information divulging what data pertaining to their person has been processed by which area of the university and on what legal basis. They may request this information at any time, without the need to fill out a specific form or to name particular reasons for their request. No one may be discriminated against or reprimanded for exercising their rights.

Compliance with the legal and statutory provisions on data protection is integral to the self-conception of TU Dresden and is of the highest priority. The university makes every effort possible to effectively enforce compliance with these regulations.

Members of the TUD can find further information on data protection issues on the TUD intranet.