Type: Judgment

Authority: European Authorities: Euopean Communities' Court of Justice

Date: 01/29/2008

Subject: The national court asked whether Community law, in particular Directives 2000/31, 2001/29 and 2004/48, read also in the light of Articles 17 and 47 of the Charter of fundamental rights of EU, must be interpreted as requiring Member States to lay down, in order to ensure effective protection of copyright, an obligation to communicate personal data in the context of civil proceedings. The present reference for a preliminary ruling raises the question of the need to reconcile the requirements of the protection of different fundamental rights, namely the right to respect for private life on the one hand and the rights to protection of property and to an effective remedy on the other. The Court ruled that Directives 2000/31, 2001/29, 2004/48 and 2002/58 do not require the Member States to lay down an obligation to communicate personal data in order to ensure effective protection of copyright in the context of civil proceedings. However, Community law requires that, when transposing those directives, the Member States take care to rely on an interpretation of them which allows a fair balance to be struck between the various fundamental rights protected by the Community legal order. Further, when implementing the measures transposing those directives, the authorities and courts of the Member States must not only interpret their national law in a manner consistent with those directives but also make sure that they do not rely on an interpretation of them which would be in conflict with those fundamental rights or with the other general principles of Community law, such as the principle of proportionality.

Parties: Productores de Música de España (Promusicae) c/ Telefónica de España SAU

Classification: Freedoms - Art. 8 Personal data: fairly processing - Personal data: consent - Personal data: access - Art. 17 Intellectual property - Justice - Art. 47 Justice: remedy - Justice: effective

Text

Notices: Effectiveness of the Charter
The nationa court asked the interpretation of Directives 2000/31, 2001/29 and 2004/48, read also in the light of Articles 17 and 47 of the Charter of fundamental rights of EU. The Court noted that question involves, in addition to those two rights, a further fundamental right, namely the right that guarantees protection of personal data and hence of private life, set out in Articles 7 and 8 of the Charter.