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ECLI:EU:C:2017:197
JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (Second Chamber)
9 March 2017 (*)
(Reference for a preliminary ruling — Personal data — Protection of individuals with regard to the processing of
personal data — Directive 95/46/EC — Article 6(1)(e) — Data subject to disclosure in the companies register —
First Directive 68/151/EEC — Article 3 — Winding-up of the company concerned — Restriction of access to that
data by third parties)
In Case C‑398/15
REQUEST for a preliminary ruling under Article 267 TFEU from the Corte suprema di cassazione (Court of Cassation,
Italy), made by decision of 21 May 2015, received at the Court on 23 July 2015, in the proceedings
Camera di Commercio,Industria, Artigianato e Agricoltura di Lecce
v
Salvatore Manni,
THE COURT (Second Chamber),
composed of M. Ilešič (Rapporteur), President of the Chamber, A. Prechal, A. Rosas, C. Toader and E. Jarašiūnas,
Judges,
Advocate General: Y. Bot,
Registrar: I. Illéssy, Administrator,
having regard to the written procedure and further to the hearing on 15 June 2016,
after considering the observations submitted on behalf of:
the Camera di Commercio, Industria, Artigianato e Agricoltura di Lecce, by L. Caprioli, avvocato,
the Italian Government, by G. Palmieri, acting as Agent, and by E. De Bonis and P. Grasso, avvocati dello Stato,
the Czech Government, by M. Smolek and J. Vláčil, acting as Agents,
the German Government, by T. Henze and J. Möller, acting as Agents,
Ireland, by E. Creedon, J. Quaney and by A. Joyce, acting as Agents, and by A. Carroll, barrister,
the Polish Government, by B. Majczyna, acting as Agent,
the Portuguese Government, by L. Inez Fernandes and M. Figueiredo and by C. Vieira Guerra, acting as Agents,
the European Commission, by P. Costa de Oliveira and by D. Nardi and H. Støvlbæk, acting as Agents,
after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 8 September 2016,
gives the following
Judgment
This request for a preliminary ruling concerns the interpretation of Article 3 of the First Council Directive
68/151/EEC of 9 March 1968 on co-ordination of safeguards which, for the protection of the interests of members
and others, are required by Member States of companies within the meaning of the second paragraph of Article 58
of the Treaty, with a view to making such safeguards equivalent throughout the Community (OJ 1968 L 65, p. 8),
as amended by Directive 2003/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 July 2003 (OJ 2003
L 221, p. 13) (‘Directive 68/151’), and Article 6(1)(e) 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 data and on
the free movement of such data (OJ 1995 L 281, p. 31).
The request has been made in proceedings between the Camera di Commercio, Industria, Artigianato e Agricoltura
di Lecce (Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Crafts and Agriculture of Lecce, Italy, ‘the Chamber of Commerce of
Lecce’) and Salvatore Manni concerning its refusal to delete certain personal data relating to Mr Manni from the
companies register.
Legal context
EU law
Directive 68/151
As stated in recital 3 of Directive 2003/58, the aim of the directive was, inter alia, to modernise Directive 68/151
so as to make ‘company information more easily and rapidly accessible by interested parties, but should also
simplify significantly the disclosure formalities imposed upon companies’.
The recitals of Directive 68/151 are worded as follows:
‘Whereas the co-ordination provided for in Article 54(3)(g) [of the EEC Treaty] and in the General Programme for
the abolition of restrictions on freedom of establishment is a matter of urgency, especially in regard to companies
limited by shares or otherwise having limited liability, since the activities of such companies often extend beyond
the frontiers of national territories;
Whereas the co-ordination of national provisions concerning disclosure, the validity of obligations entered into by,
and the nullity of, such companies is of special importance, particularly for the purpose of protecting the interests
of third parties;
curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=188750&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=1151671
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