Description

Issued Advocate General's Opinion in Case on competition authority competence regarding GDPR

On 20 September 2022, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) Advocate General's Opinion in case C‑252/21 was published. The case originated in Germany between the the Federal Cartel Office (FCO) and Meta Platforms. The FCO prohibited Meta Platforms from processing data collected according to Facebook's terms of service after finding that the data processing did not comply with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and determining that Meta Platforms was abusing its platforms' dominant position in Germany. Meta Platforms appealed the decision to the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf, which referred two questions to the CJEU: Whether national competition authorities have the power to assess the compliance of data processing with the GDPR and whether certain provisions of the GDPR were applied correctly in this case. The Advocate General determined that although a competition authority is not competent to establish a breach of the GDPR, it may, in the exercise of its own powers, take into account the compatibility of commercial practice with the GDPR. The Advocate General further noted that the mere fact that a social network enjoys a dominant position on the national market does not render invalid the consent of the user to the processing of their personal data. Furthermore, the Advocate General noted that the prohibition on processing sensitive personal data might also relate to the data processing at hand. In order for the exemption of that prohibition to apply, users must be aware that they are making their personal data public. The Advocate General's Opinion is not binding on the Court of Justice. The Judges of the Court will begin deliberations and issue a judgment.

Original source

Scope

Policy Area
Competition
Policy Instrument
Unilateral conduct regulation
Regulated Economic Activity
platform intermediary: user-generated content
Implementation Level
national
Government Branch
judiciary
Government Body
supreme court

Complete timeline of this policy change

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2019-02-06
in force

The Federal Cartel Office (FCO) rules that excessive data collection by platforms (i.c. Facebook) o…

2019-08-26
under appeal

Court of appeals suspends the application of the the Federal Cartel Office (FCO) ruling that excess…

2020-06-23
in force

Supreme court overturns the court of appeals and upholds the Federal Cartel Office (FCO) ruling tha…

2021-03-24
under deliberation

On 24 March 2021, the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court (DHRC) suspended the proceedings in the case…

2021-03-24
under investigation

On 24 March 2021, the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court (DHRC) suspended the proceedings in the case…

2022-09-20
under deliberation

On 20 September 2022, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) Advocate General's Opinion …

2023-07-04
in force

On 4 July 2023, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued its ruling in case C‑252/2…

2024-10-10
concluded

On 10 October 2024, the Federal Cartel Office (FCO) closed its investigation into Meta (formerly Fa…