THE Dutch data protection watchdog slapped a €290 million (£247m) fine on taxi service Uber today for allegedly transferring personal details of European drivers to the United States without adequate protection. 

Uber slammed the decision as flawed and unjustified and vowed to lodge an appeal.

The Dutch Data Protection Authority said that the data transfers spanning more than two years amounted to a serious breach of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which requires technical and organisational measures aimed at protecting user data.

“In Europe, the GDPR protects the fundamental rights of people, by requiring businesses and governments to handle personal data with due care,” Dutch DPA chairman Aleid Wolfsen said in a statement.

“But sadly, this is not self-evident outside Europe. Think of governments that can tap data on a large scale. That is why businesses are usually obliged to take additional measures if they store personal data of Europeans outside the European Union. 

“Uber did not meet the requirements of the GDPR to ensure the level of protection to the data with regard to transfers to the US That is very serious.”

The case was initiated by complaints from 170 French Uber drivers, but the Dutch authority issued the fine because Uber’s European headquarters is in the Netherlands.

Uber insisted it did nothing wrong.

“This flawed decision and extraordinary fine are completely unjustified. Uber’s cross-border data transfer process was compliant with GDPR during a three-year period of immense uncertainty between the EU and US.

“We will appeal and remain confident that common sense will prevail,” the company said in a statement.

The alleged breach came after the EU’s top court ruled in 2020 that an agreement known as Privacy Shield that allowed thousands of companies to transfer data to the US was invalid because the American government could snoop on people’s data.