Personal data of applicants

Personal data of applicants that you are not allowed to process

You are usually not allowed to process this applicant data during an application procedure:

• special categories of personal data;
• data about someone’s health;
• criminal personal data;
• citizen service number (Dutch: BSN);
• a copy of the identity document.

Special categories of personal data

You are not allowed to process special categories of personal data of applicants, such as information about their health, race/ethnicity and religion, unless there is a legal exception.

Such an exception may require the applicant’s explicit consent. But please note: this consent must be given freely to be legally valid. Applicants are in a dependent position in relation to you, which means they may experience pressure to give consent. In that case, consent is not given freely.

Example: job application by video

As an employer, you are not allowed to require applicants to send you a video of themselves applying for a job. This is because if you do, you may process special categories of personal data. You could deduce the following information from the images in the video:

• the origin of an applicant;
• certain health data, such as a visible disability;
• the religion of the applicant, for example, if they wear certain clothing.

You may only process these special categories of personal data during the application with the explicit consent of the applicant. This consent is only valid if applicants can also apply in another way, for example, by letter. You must make it clear that choosing one or the other option will not have any negative consequences for the applicant.

Data about the applicant’s health

As an employer, you can hardly ever ask about the applicant’s health during a job interview. A medical examination (pre-employment medical examination) is subject to strict conditions. Read more: Health data during job applications.

Criminal data

You are not allowed to ask about criminal data, i.e. the criminal history of an applicant, unless it concerns a position where you need to be aware of this. It is usually sufficient if the applicant can provide a certificate of conduct (Dutch: VOG). Read more under Screening.

Citizen service number (Dutch: BSN)

You cannot ask applicants for their citizen service number (Dutch: BSN). You may only request this when an applicant starts working for you. Then you need the citizen service number to be able to exchange data with the Tax and Customs Administration.

But if you want to check whether an applicant falls within the target group of the Occupational Disability (Employment Targets and Quotas) Act, you can ask for their citizen service number. This allows you to ask the Employee Insurance Agency (Dutch: UWV) whether the applicant falls within the target group.

Copy of identity document

You are not allowed to request or make a copy, scan or photo of the applicant’s identity document. This would give you information that is not necessary during the application procedure. One example is the applicant’s passport photo and nationality.

You are allowed, however, to check the identity of applicants. You do this by asking them to show their original identity document.

If an applicant takes up employment with you, you as an employer are by law obliged to provide a copy of the identity document.

Retention period for applicant data

If an applicant is not taken on, it is customary that you delete the applicant’s data no later than 4 weeks after the end of the application procedure.

Applicants can give consent to retain their data longer. For example, because a suitable position may be available at a later date. A maximum period of 1 year after the end of the application procedure is reasonable for this.