| dc.description.abstract | This thesis offers an analysis of screening as a data processing operation by focusing on the principle of ‘transparency’ and ‘right to information’ in the context of contemporary European data protection law and by combining social science and legal methods. Screening refers to a procedure whereby certain EU-based non-governmental organizations (NGOs) implementing aid projects in the Global South check the background of individuals in order (i) to comply with international and domestic (sanctions) law, (ii) with conditional clauses enshrined in funding agreements or (iii) or to secure other organizational interests. Common is the objective to prevent the use of donor money for illicit purposes, money-laundering, terrorism finance or corruption, in the context of aid work. What compliance and prevention means in practice is not necessarily specified by law. Therefore, as legal requirements accompanying international and domestic sanctions have become increasingly complex, commercial actors responded by consolidating the different lists into searchable datasets and offering digitalised solutions to their customers. Screening in general, and the use of tech solutions in particular raises questions not only with regards to the law and politics of lists and listing or in the context of international humanitarian law, but also with regards to broader human rights issues, personal data protection included. The principle of transparency and the right to information deserves particular attention considering the fact that screening is a practice unknown to the broader public. If NGOs registered in the EU/EEA process personal data, the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR) apply. This fact is relevant from legal perspectives not only because the EU’s data protection framework ambitions to reinforce the data controllers’ liability and the data subjects’ rights at the same time by promoting norms in global terms (Bennett, 2018), but also because states traditionally tend to view foreigners being less entitled to privacy rights than their own citizens. Reflecting the importance it attributes to the protection of fundamental rights, the GDPR, however, not only applies to its single market, but is also extended to the EU’s external trade – and aid – relationships for its territorial scope. European NGOs, even if they implement projects in the Global South are bound by the GDPR as long as their data processing operations fall under the scope defined in General Data Protection Regulation. The work is available upon request, by email. | eng |