European Union: Announced CJEU Preliminary Ruling proceedings on consumer protection association's standing against Meta

On 15 July 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has announced that it has received a request for a preliminary ruling from the German Federal Court of Justice in a case on the standing of the Verbraucherverband Bundeszentrale (the Federation of German Consumer Organisations) to enter into proceedings against Meta for breaches of the GDPR. At issue is whether such an association is entitled to bring proceedings for breaches of the GDPR regarding infringements of specific data subject rights independently and without being mandated by data subjects, where national rules establish such standing on the basis of the prohibition of unfair practices, breaches of a consumer protection law, or the prohibition of the use of invalid terms and conditions.