Processing of complaints

The Danish Return Agency collects and processes personal data in order to be able to deal with complaints. This may include complaints over specific decisions and complaints over case administration times.

Purpose and legal basis


The purpose of the processing of personal data in complaints cases is to be able to process the cases and make decisions in them.

The legal basis for processing the personal data is based on a legal obligation, see Article 6(1)(c) and Article 9(2)(f) of the General Data Protection Regulation, and section 8 of the Data Protection Act in relation to the performance of The Danish Return Agency's tasks.

As part of our exercise of official authority, we are legally obliged to process your personal data under either Part 8 of the Aliens Act, the Public Administration Act, or the principles of good administration.

Data being processed


We process both general and sensitive personal data about the person with whom the complaint is concerned, and we may also receive information about any criminal convictions or offences.
We may also process information about your name and address, but also about your ethnic origin and religious beliefs.

Recipients of personal data


Depending on the circumstances, we may disclose personal data to other public authorities, including:
The Department of The Ministry of Immigration and Integration, The Immigration Service, the Immigration Appeals Board, the Refugee Appeals Board, other ministries and subordinate authorities, local authorities, police authorities, Danish missions abroad (embassies, etc.), the Danish Parliament, the Parliamentary Ombudsman, the Legal Adviser to the Danish Government, the Danish Security and Intelligence Service, the Danish Defence Intelligence Service, the Danish National ID Centre, the Agency for International Recruitment and Integration, and other EU Member States.

Storage of your data


Complaints are registered with a reference number in our electronic case and document management system. We file documents with personal data in accordance with the rules set out in the Access to Public Administration Files Act, and we hand them over to the state archival authorities in accordance with the rules set out in the legislation on archives (approximately every five years). After this, we will make a specific assessment of whether we need to retain a copy of the cases. This assessment will take into account whether the complaint may be likely to form part of future cases, such as in connection with requests for renewed consideration, etc. If we do not have an administrative need to retain a copy of the cases, they will be erased.