§ 31 DSG NRW
Duty of confidentiality, right to refuse testimony and dismissal
(1)Where needed, a body may also appoint several official data protection officers as well as several deputies.
(2)Data subjects may consult the official data protection officer on all matters relating to the processing of their personal data and the exercise of their rights pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2016/679, this Act and other legal provisions on data protection. The official data protection officer shall be bound by a duty of confidentiality regarding the identity of the data subject and circumstances allowing inferences about the data subject, unless released therefrom by the data subject.
(3)Where the data protection officer acquires knowledge in the course of his or her activities of data for which the management or a person employed at the public body has a right to refuse testimony for professional reasons, this right shall also apply to the data protection officer and to the employees subordinate to him or her. The decision on the exercise of this right shall be taken by the person who has the right to refuse testimony for professional reasons, unless this decision cannot be brought about within a foreseeable time. Insofar as the right to refuse testimony of the data protection officer extends, his or her files and other documents shall be subject to a prohibition on seizure.
(4)The dismissal of the official data protection officer shall be permissible only in analogous application of Section 626 of the Civil Code. Termination of the employment relationship shall not be permissible unless facts exist that would entitle the public body to terminate for cause without observing a notice period. After the end of the activity as official data protection officer, termination of the employment relationship within one year shall not be permissible. This shall not apply where the public body is entitled to terminate for cause without observing a notice period.
(5)Criminal and administrative fines provisions