Neutral Citation Number: 2023:DHC:2806
As regards the directive‘s territorial scope, the Court
observes that Google Spain is a subsidiary of Google
Inc. on Spanish territory and, therefore, an
‗establishment‘ within the meaning of the directive.
The Court rejects the argument that the processing of
personal data by Google Search is not carried out in
the context of the activities of that establishment in
Spain. The Court holds, in this regard, that where such
data are processed for the purposes of a search engine
operated by an undertaking which, although it has its
seat in a non-member State, has an establishment in a
Member State, the processing is carried out ‗in the
context of the activities‘ of that establishment, within
the meaning of the directive, if the establishment is
intended to promote and sell, in the Member State in
question, advertising space offered by the search
engine in order to make the service offered by the
engine profitable.
So far as concerns, next, the extent of the
responsibility of the operator of the search engine, the
Court holds that the operator is, in certain
circumstances, obliged to remove links to web pages
that are published by third parties and contain
information relating to a person from the list of
results displayed following a search made on the
basis of that person’s name. The Court makes it clear
that such an obligation may also exist in a case where
that name or information is not erased beforehand or
simultaneously from those web pages, and even, as
the case may be, when its publication in itself on
those pages is lawful.
The Court points out in this context that processing of
personal data carried out by such an operator enables
any internet user, when he makes a search on the basis
of an individual‘s name, to obtain, through the list of
results, a structured overview of the information
relating to that individual on the internet. The Court
observes, furthermore, that this information potentially
Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed
By:SHAZAAD ZAKIR
Signing Date:26.04.2023
17:19:50
W.P.(CRL) 1505/2021
Page 71 of 88
اختر الفقرة المستهدفة3
الاتصال بفقرة
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
أضف إلى جدول المحتويات