Garante per la protezione dei dati personali (Italy) - 476/2026
Italy's Garante fines Piaggio €460,000 for unlawful workplace monitoring and delayed data deactivation.
The Italian Data Protection Authority (Garante) has fined Piaggio €460,000 for unlawfully monitoring employees' emails and logs, and for failing to respond promptly to account deactivation requests. The company retained and examined a significant number of emails from two former employees, which the Garante deemed an unlawful workplace monitoring practice. Additionally, Piaggio did not respond within the statutory deadline to requests confirming the deactivation of corporate email accounts.
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The lesson from this incident
Full lessonPiaggio violated Italian and EU data protection law by retaining and examining a substantial volume of emails belonging to former employees, constituting unlawful workplace surveillance. The company also failed to deactivate corporate email accounts within the legally required timeframe, extending unnecessary access and data exposure risks. These failures highlight a common gap between IT offboarding procedures and legal data minimisation obligations. The case underscores that monitoring employee communications — even after departure — requires a clear legal basis, proportionality, and transparent policy, none of which were adequately demonstrated here.
What helps against this
How we list vendors- Identity governance and single sign-on
People who leave or change roles lose access everywhere at once, and forgotten accounts stop piling up.
- Data loss prevention (DLP)
Sensitive data cannot quietly leave by email, upload, USB stick or AI tool.
- Compliance automation (GRC)
Evidence for NIS2, DORA and ISO 27001 is collected continuously, not in a rush before the audit.