03/02/2020
CURIA - Documents
74 This provision permits the processing of personal data where it is necessary for the purposes of the
legitimate interests pursued by the controller or by the third party or parties to whom the data are
disclosed, except where such interests are overridden by the interests or fundamental rights and
freedoms of the data subject — in particular his right to privacy with respect to the processing of
personal data — which require protection under Article 1(1) of the directive. Application of Article 7(f)
thus necessitates a balancing of the opposing rights and interests concerned, in the context of which
account must be taken of the significance of the data subject’s rights arising from Articles 7 and 8 of the
Charter (see ASNEF and FECEMD, EU:C:2011:777, paragraphs 38 and 40).
75 Whilst the question whether the processing complies with Articles 6 and 7(f) of Directive 95/46 may
be determined in the context of a request as provided for in Article 12(b) of the directive, the data
subject may, in addition, rely in certain conditions on the right to object laid down in subparagraph (a)
of the first paragraph of Article 14 of the directive.
76 Under subparagraph (a) of the first paragraph of Article 14 of Directive 95/46, Member States are to
grant the data subject the right, at least in the cases referred to in Article 7(e) and (f) of the directive, to
object at any time on compelling legitimate grounds relating to his particular situation to the processing
of data relating to him, save where otherwise provided by national legislation. The balancing to be
carried out under subparagraph (a) of the first paragraph of Article 14 thus enables account to be taken
in a more specific manner of all the circumstances surrounding the data subject’s particular situation.
Where there is a justified objection, the processing instigated by the controller may no longer involve
those data.
77 Requests under Article 12(b) and subparagraph (a) of the first paragraph of Article 14 of Directive
95/46 may be addressed by the data subject directly to the controller who must then duly examine their
merits and, as the case may be, end processing of the data in question. Where the controller does not
grant the request, the data subject may bring the matter before the supervisory authority or the judicial
authority so that it carries out the necessary checks and orders the controller to take specific measures
accordingly.
78 In this connection, it is to be noted that it is clear from Article 28(3) and (4) of Directive 95/46 that
each supervisory authority is to hear claims lodged by any person concerning the protection of his
rights and freedoms in regard to the processing of personal data and that it has investigative powers and
effective powers of intervention enabling it to order in particular the blocking, erasure or destruction of
data or to impose a temporary or definitive ban on such processing.
79 It is in the light of those considerations that it is necessary to interpret and apply the provisions of
Directive 95/46 governing the data subject’s rights when he lodges with the supervisory authority or
judicial authority a request such as that at issue in the main proceedings.
80 It must be pointed out at the outset that, as has been found in paragraphs 36 to 38 of the present
judgment, processing of personal data, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, carried out by the
operator of a search engine is liable to affect significantly the fundamental rights to privacy and to the
protection of personal data when the search by means of that engine is carried out on the basis of an
individual’s name, since that processing enables any internet user to obtain through the list of results a
structured overview of the information relating to that individual that can be found on the internet —
information which potentially concerns a vast number of aspects of his private life and which, without
the search engine, could not have been interconnected or could have been only with great difficulty —
and thereby to establish a more or less detailed profile of him. Furthermore, the effect of the
interference with those rights of the data subject is heightened on account of the important role played
by the internet and search engines in modern society, which render the information contained in such a
list of results ubiquitous (see, to this effect, Joined Cases C-509/09 and C-161/10 eDate Advertising
and Others EU:C:2011:685, paragraph 45).
81 In the light of the potential seriousness of that interference, it is clear that it cannot be justified by
merely the economic interest which the operator of such an engine has in that processing. However,
inasmuch as the removal of links from the list of results could, depending on the information at issue,
have effects upon the legitimate interest of internet users potentially interested in having access to that
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