Type: Judgment

Authority: European Authorities: Euopean Union' Court of Justice

Date: 05/13/2014

Subject: The Court, interpreting Directive 95/46/EC, affirmed that the activity of a search engine must be classified as processing of personal data and, that the operator of the search engine must be regarded as the controller. Moreover, the Court affirmed that the operator of a search engine is obliged to remove from the list of results displayed following a search made on the basis of a person’s name links to web pages, published by third parties and containing information relating to that person, also 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. Finally as the data subject may, in the light of his fundamental rights under Articles 7 and 8 of the Charter, request that the information relating to him no longer be made available to the general public on account of its inclusion in such a list of results, those rights override, as a rule, not only the economic interest of the operator of the search engine but also the interest of the general public in having access to that information upon a search relating to the data subject’s name. However, that would not be the case if it appeared, for particular reasons, such as the role played by the data subject in public life, that the interference with his fundamental rights is justified by the preponderant interest of the general public in having, on account of its inclusion in the list of results, access to the information in question.

Parties: Google Spain SL e Google Inc c. Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (AEPD) e Mario Costeja González

Classification: Freedoms - Art. 7 Privacy - Art. 8 Personal data: fairly processing - Personal data: consent - Personal data: access - Personal data: rectification

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