03/02/2020
CURIA - Documents
96 In the light of the foregoing, when appraising such requests made in order to oppose processing such as
that at issue in the main proceedings, it should in particular be examined whether the data subject has a
right that the information relating to him personally should, at this point in time, no longer be linked to
his name by a list of results displayed following a search made on the basis of his name. In this
connection, it must be pointed out that it is not necessary in order to find such a right that the inclusion
of the information in question in the list of results causes prejudice to the data subject.
97 As the data subject may, in the light of his fundamental rights under Articles 7 and 8 of the Charter,
request that the information in question no longer be made available to the general public by its
inclusion in such a list of results, it should be held, as follows in particular from paragraph 81 of the
present judgment, that those rights override, as a rule, not only the economic interest of the operator of
the search engine but also the interest of the general public in finding that information upon a search
relating to the data subject’s name. However, that would not be the case if it appeared, for particular
reasons, such as the role played by the data subject in public life, that the interference with his
fundamental rights is justified by the preponderant interest of the general public in having, on account
of inclusion in the list of results, access to the information in question.
98 As regards a situation such as that at issue in the main proceedings, which concerns the display, in the
list of results that the internet user obtains by making a search by means of Google Search on the basis
of the data subject’s name, of links to pages of the on-line archives of a daily newspaper that contain
announcements mentioning the data subject’s name and relating to a real-estate auction connected with
attachment proceedings for the recovery of social security debts, it should be held that, having regard to
the sensitivity for the data subject’s private life of the information contained in those announcements
and to the fact that its initial publication had taken place 16 years earlier, the data subject establishes a
right that that information should no longer be linked to his name by means of such a list. Accordingly,
since in the case in point there do not appear to be particular reasons substantiating a preponderant
interest of the public in having, in the context of such a search, access to that information, a matter
which is, however, for the referring court to establish, the data subject may, by virtue of Article 12(b)
and subparagraph (a) of the first paragraph of Article 14 of Directive 95/46, require those links to be
removed from the list of results.
99 It follows from the foregoing considerations that the answer to Question 3 is that Article 12(b) and
subparagraph (a) of the first paragraph of Article 14 of Directive 95/46 are to be interpreted as meaning
that, when appraising the conditions for the application of those provisions, it should inter alia be
examined whether the data subject has a right that the information in question relating to him
personally should, at this point in time, no longer be linked to his name by a list of results displayed
following a search made on the basis of his name, without it being necessary in order to find such a
right that the inclusion of the information in question in that list causes prejudice to the data subject. As
the data subject may, in the light of his fundamental rights under Articles 7 and 8 of the Charter, request
that the information in question no longer be made available to the general public on account of its
inclusion in such a list of results, those rights override, as a rule, not only the economic interest of the
operator of the search engine but also the interest of the general public in having access to that
information upon a search relating to the data subject’s name. However, that would not be the case if it
appeared, for particular reasons, such as the role played by the data subject in public life, that the
interference with his fundamental rights is justified by the preponderant interest of the general public in
having, on account of its inclusion in the list of results, access to the information in question.
Costs
100 Since these proceedings are, for the parties to the main proceedings, a step in the action pending before
the referring court, the decision on costs is a matter for that court. Costs incurred in submitting
observations to the Court, other than the costs of those parties, are not recoverable.
On those grounds, the Court (Grand Chamber) hereby rules:
1. Article 2(b) and (d) of Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of
24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal
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