BIANCARDI v. ITALY JUDGMENT
information contained in such a list of results ubiquitous. In the light of the
potential seriousness of that interference, it could not be justified merely by
the economic interest of the operator.
21. The CJEU held that a fair balance had to be sought between the
legitimate interest of Internet users in having access to such information and
the data subject’s fundamental rights. It deemed that a data subject’s
fundamental rights, as a general rule, overrode the interests of Internet users,
but that that balance might, however, depend on (i) the nature of the
information in question and its sensitivity as regards the data subject’s
private life and (ii) the interest of the public in having that information.
22. The CJEU held that in certain cases the operator of a search engine
was obliged to remove from the list of results displayed (following a search
made on the basis of a person’s name) any and all links to Internet pages
published by third parties and containing information relating to that person,
even when the publication of that information on the Internet pages in
question was in itself lawful. That was so in particular where the data in
question appeared to be inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant, or
excessive, given the purposes for which they had been processed and in the
light of the time that had elapsed since the date of the processing in question
(see Delfi AS v. Estonia [GC], no. 64569/09, § 56, ECHR 2015).
2. GC and Others (De-referencing of sensitive data) (Case C-136/17)
23. In a judgment of 24 September 2019 in GC and Others (Dereferencing of sensitive data), C-136/17, EU:C:2019:773, the CJEU was
called upon to interpret Directive 95/46/EC following a request for a
preliminary ruling concerning four decisions delivered by the National
Commission on Data Processing and Civil Liberties (Commission nationale
de l’informatique et des libertés – CNIL) refusing to serve formal notices on
Google requiring it to de-reference various links appearing in the lists of
results displayed following searches of their names and leading to Internet
pages published by third parties.
24. The CJEU decided, inter alia, that information relating to legal
proceedings brought against an individual (and information relating to any
ensuing conviction) constituted data relating to “offences” and “criminal
convictions” within the meaning of Article 8 § 5 of Directive 95/46/EC. The
CJEU also ruled that the operator of a search engine was required to accede
to a request for de-referencing in respect of links to Internet pages
displaying such information, in the event that the information in question
(i) related to an earlier stage of the legal proceedings in question and,
(ii) having regard to the progress of the proceedings, no longer
corresponded to the current situation; however, the search engine operator
in question would be required to accede to a request for de-referencing only
if – in the course of verifying whether there were reasons of substantial
public interest, as listed in Article 8 § 4 of Directive 95/46/EC – it had been
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