European Union: Issued Judgement of the CJEU on the lawsuit regarding the compensation for non-material damage under the GDPR (Patērētāju tiesību aizsardzības centrs v A) (C-507/23)

On 4 October 2024, the Court of Justice of the European Union issued a ruling concerning the interpretation of Article 82(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), in relation to a case involving unlawful processing of personal data. The original case concerned the distribution of a video featuring a character imitating the original applicant without his consent. The CJEU clarified that an infringement of GDPR provisions alone does not suffice to constitute damage warranting compensation. It further established that apologies could serve as adequate compensation for non-material damage, provided they fully compensate the damage suffered by the data subject. Additionally, the court ruled that the attitude and motivation of the data controller cannot be considered to reduce the compensation owed to the data subject below the actual damage suffered.