Germany: Referral to the European Court of Justice

On 24 March 2021, the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court (DHRC) suspended the proceedings in the case Facebook v. Bundeskartellamt and referred the case to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for interpretation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The case was brought before the court by Facebook appealing the German competition authority's decision that the company abused its dominant position on the market by combining user data. On 6 February 2019, Bundeskartellamt imposed restrictions regarding the way Facebook was collecting, and processing user data and the company was required to obtain “voluntary consent" from consumers before it combines and uses the data. The Bundeskartellamt determined during its investigation that Facebook was collecting data through services it owns (WhatsApp and Instagram), third-party websites and Facebook Analytics and combining it without the users' consent.