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Media Pubblicazioni Newsletter Data Protection Bites Data Protection Bites 3/2021 Telepass' unfair commercial practice

Telepass' unfair commercial practice

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​According to the Italian Antitrust Authority (AGCM), Telepass engaged in an unfair commercial practice in the distribution of motor liability insurance policies.


Specifically, Telepass failed to provide customers with adequate information about the processing of their personal data and failed to explain the criteria and methods used to select quotes in the mobile APP as well. For these reasons, the Italian Antitrust Authority imposed a fine of EUR 2 million on Telepass S.p.A. and Telepass Broker S.r.l..

In particular, the Authority found out that both companies had jointly engaged in two unlawful types of conduct:
  • the first, relating to sharing users' personal data with intermediary partner companies, without having previously informed users about the purpose of the collection and the way in which their personal data were going to be used, including for commercial purposes. According to this situation, users were not aware of the marketing purpose pursued by the company in the processing of their data. Following this conduct, the Authority also declared that the exception raised by Telepass S.p.A. and Telepass Broker S.r.l., concerning the possibility of users to oppose to the receipt of commercial (or promotional) communications at any time, was not acceptable. In fact, the mere possibility granted to them to refuse any communications of this type (i.e. through the unsubscribe link set in the singular email received or the e-mail addresses set in the privacy policy), did not constitute a measure suitable to integrate the compliance required by the law. In line with this prospective, users are never aware of the commercial purposes pursued by Telepass.
  • the second and final, concerning the lack of information on methods, procedures and parameters of reference and selection of the type of motor liability quote proposed. According to this state, Telepass emphasised the convenience and ease of selection of the proposal presented, without expressly indicating the criteria and parameters used by the company in presenting the most advantageous quote. In addition, customers did not receive clear and timely information about the actual representativeness of the companies providing the policies.

Quite interesting is also the value of users’ personal data attributed by the decision.

The italian Authority, in fact, defined users’ personal data as a business economic asset for the company itself, such that it is necessary to adequately inform users about the use of their data for marketing purposes. It is precisely on the basis of this distinction that the infringement of information on the part of Telepass was assessed: the company collected personal data for the purpose of providing a quote for a motor liability policies and, at the same time, used those data for commercial purposes. Within this context, customers were never aware of the commercial purpose pursued by Telepass.

In any case, Telepass immediately implemented several remediation measures, which have been deemed suitable by the Authority. In particular:
  • in regards to the first conduct, Telepass established that, as of 8 February 2021, all data acquired from companies during the quote process can no longer be processed for commercial purposes;
  • on the other side, with regard to the second conduct that was put in place, Telepass announced that it made the criteria followed for the selection of the estimate clear - i.e. when the algorithm matches the policy with the lowest premium with the same minimum limit offered by each partnert - and, where relevant, it would report the insurance company issuing the policy. Finally, the graphics of the section with the list of partners were reformulated, distinguishing between insurance companies and insurance intermediaries.

Considering the fine’s quantification, the Authority took into account the following elements:
  • the seriousness of the infringement, which is distinguished by significant deficiencies in the information given, concerning the processing of users' data (in particular by the divergence between the real purpose and the one stated in the privacy statement) and the way the service is provided which, as practised by Telepass, is not capable of guaranteeing a free choice for consumers;
  • the high offensiveness of the practice, which is represented by the large number of Telepass customers potentially affected by it (9.1 million as of June 2020);
  • the duration of the practice (carried out between June 2019 and February 2021);
  • the peculiarity of the reference context, which is permeated by an impressive technological innovation and a high circulation of personal information (which represent a huge economic value for Telepass).

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