The Dutch tennis association KNLTB has been fined €525,000 by the Dutch privacy watchdog Autoriteit Persoonsgevens for infringing on the privacy of its members.

The complaint dates back to 2018 when dozens of the organisation’s members complained about being emailed and phoned by companies with links to the KNLTB even though they had never agreed that their information should be sold.

Under EU privacy legislation (GDPR), everyone should have been asked to agree. Nevertheless one sponsor was given the names and addresses of 50,000 members, another at least 300,000, the AP said in its ruling.

The KNLTB, which says it plans to appeal against the fine, said it is extremely careful about what it does with members’ private information.

In addition, the organisation says the size of the fine will have a major impact on its finances.