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12/10/2019 CURIA - Documents Provisional text JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (Grand Chamber) 24 September 2019 (*) (Reference for a preliminary ruling — Personal data — Protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data contained on websites — Directive 95/46/EC — Regulation (EU) 2016/679 — Search engines on the internet — Processing of data appearing on websites — Special categories of data referred to in Article 8 of Directive 95/46 and Articles 9 and 10 of Regulation 2016/679 — Applicability of those articles to operators of a search engine — Extent of that operator’s obligations with respect to those articles — Publication of data on websites solely for journalistic purposes or the purpose of artistic or literary expression — Effect on the handling of a request for dereferencing — Articles 7, 8 and 11 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union) In Case C-136/17, REQUEST for a preliminary ruling under Article 267 TFEU from the Conseil d’État (Council of State, France), made by decision of 24 February 2017, received at the Court on 15 March 2017, in the proceedings GC, AF, BH, ED v Commission nationale de l’informatique et des libertés (CNIL), interveners: Premier ministre, Google LLC, successor to Google Inc., THE COURT (Grand Chamber), composed of K. Lenaerts, President, A. Arabadjiev, A. Prechal, T. von Danwitz, C. Toader and F. Biltgen, Presidents of Chambers, M. Ilešič (Rapporteur), L. Bay Larsen, M. Safjan, D. Šváby, C.G. Fernlund, C. Vajda and S. Rodin, Judges, Advocate General: M. Szpunar, Registrar: V. Giacobbo-Peyronnel, administrator, having regard to the written procedure and further to the hearing on 11 September 2018, after considering the observations submitted on behalf of: – AF, by himself, – BH, by L. Boré, avocat, curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document_print.jsf?docid=218106&text=&dir=&doclang=EN&part=1&occ=ﬁrst&mode=DOC&pageIndex=0&cid=2571804 1/19

اختر الفقرة المستهدفة3

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GC, AF, BH, ED v. National Commission on Informatics and Liberty (CNIL)

Case Law

Country

France

Country Location

خط العرض: 46.808568018841505

خط الطول: 2.799314618110868

Country Location (مرتبط Case Law): France

Decision Date: 24 سبتمبر 2019

Case Status: أُغلقت / إنتهت

Case Outcome Procedural

Remanded for Decision in Accordance with Ruling

Case Outcome (Disposition)

حكم إعلانى / توضيحي

Keywords

Data Protection
Privacy
Right to be forgotten
Search Engines

Judicial Body: محكمة العدل الأوروبية

Court Name: Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union

Case Number: C‑136/17

Case Summary: The Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union held in a Preliminary Ruling that the European Union Directive 95/46, which protects the right to privacy with respect to processing sensitive personal data, applied to search engine operators. Four individuals in France brought complaints before the French Data Protection Authority (CNIL) to de-reference links displayed on Google following searches of their names. This included information about their criminal convictions, judicial enquiries, as well as religious and political views. In 2015 and 2016, the CNIL refused to take up their complaints and the four appealed to France’s Conseil d’État (Council of State) against CNIL’s refusal. The Council of State referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union questions regarding the processing of sensitive personal data and the obligations of search engine operators. The Court of Justice found that the processing of personal data by search engines significantly affected privacy rights of those concerned. Data subjects could request de-referencing of such personal data and when assessing them search engine operators had to strike a balance between privacy rights of data subjects and the rights of Internet users potentially interested in that information.

Case Significance: The judgment expands expression since it gives search engine operators the authority and prerogative to decide which links to de-reference and which links to not. However, private companies are not necessarily the best arbiters of determining whether privacy rights or the public interest should take precedence, as companies are motivated by their own commercial interests and hence cannot be neutral parties. The ruling effectively “placed the burden and responsibility of balancing of users’ fundamental rights on private actors, forcing them to take up the role of private adjudicators in online space.” Yet on the positive side, it upholds a system for notice and take-down allowing search engines to respond to requests, rather than putting them in a situation where they would need to pro-actively monitor and de-index sensitive data independently.

The decision also protects the right of data subjects to ensure that sensitive information about them that is available online is accurate and up-to-date by requiring search engine operators to adjust the list of results in a way that the overall picture it gives the internet user reflects the current status quo. Despite some of the positive aspects of the ruling, requiring search engines to adjust results could render less accurate results and have some unintended consequences.

The decision establishes a binding or persuasive precedent within its jurisdiction.

Related Caselaw

Source Name and URL: Global Freedom of Expression

Collection

Columbia

Date Updated: 3 يوليو 2024

المستندات الأولية

Judgment.pdf
English
تحميل عرض

CYRILLA: Global Digital Rights Law

اختر الفقرة المستهدفة3

GC, AF, BH, ED v. National Commission on Informatics and Liberty (CNIL)

المستندات الأولية

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