Tracker / Mauritius / 2013 / Anonymised respondents (2 employers)
§ Tracker · Mauritius · DPO · 2013

Anonymised respondents (2 employers)

Referred to police for prosecution of the ceo (s.20). DPO, 17 July 2013.

Record ID
mu-dpo-2013-0017
Case reference
DPO/DEC/17
Jurisdiction
Mauritius
Regulator
DPO
Type
determination
Date decided
17 July 2013
Respondent type
private
Sector
employment
Violations
unlawful processing of biometric data without consent
Provisions cited
s.20 DPA 2004, s.22 DPA 2004, s.24 DPA 2004, s.25 DPA 2004
Outcome
referred to police for prosecution of the CEO (s.20)
Status
final
Source
Official document ↗
Source integrity
SHA-256 414cd798403b2f16…
Record verified
30 July 2026

The facts

Three trade unions complained about two employers' use of fingerprint attendance systems without employee consent. A notice was served on both respondents to obtain consent or provide an alternative attendance method; the first complied, the second did not. Applying a four-part necessity, effectiveness, proportionality and less-invasive-means test drawn from international standards, the Commissioner held that fingerprinting non-consenting employees could not be justified under the Act or the employment contract, noting that convenience and cost-effectiveness cannot override the right to refuse.

Orders and outcome

The matter was referred to the police for prosecution against the Chief Executive Officer of the second respondent. Dated 17 July 2013.

BIOMETRICS · FINGERPRINT · TRADE-UNIONS · EMPLOYMENT · POLICE-REFERRAL

Cite this decision

DPO (Mauritius), Anonymised respondents (2 employers), DPO/DEC/17, determination of 17 July 2013. African Data Protection Enforcement Tracker, Law Lab Africa Research, https://research.lawlab.africa/tracker/mauritius/dpo/2013/decision-17-trade-unions-fingerprint-referral/ (accessed 30 August 2026).

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