Case C-518/07: Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 9 March 2010 — European Commission v Federal Republic of Germany (Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Directive 95/46/EC — Protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and the free movement of such data — Article 28(1) — National supervisory authorities — Independence — Administrative scrutiny of those authorities)
Date: 2010-03-09
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: European Commission, Germany, action for failure to fulfil an obligation, data processing, data protection, judgment of the Court (EU), supervisory power








C_2010113EN.01000302.xml










1.5.2010   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 113/3





Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 9 March 2010 — European Commission v Federal Republic of Germany
(Case C-518/07) (1)

(Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations - Directive 95/46/EC - Protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and the free movement of such data - Article 28(1) - National supervisory authorities - Independence - Administrative scrutiny of those authorities)
2010/C 113/04
Language of the case: German

Parties


Applicant: European Commission (represented by: C. Docksey, C. Ladenburger and H. Krämer, Agents)

Defendant: Federal Republic of Germany (represented by: M. Lumma and J. Möller, Agents)

Intervener in support of the applicant: European Data Protection Supervisor, (represented by: H. Hijmans and A. Scirocco, Agents)

Re:

Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Infringement of the second sentence of Article 28(1) of Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (OJ 1995 L 281, p. 31) — Obligation of Member States to ensure that the national supervisory authorities responsible for monitoring the processing of personal data act with complete independence in exercising their functions — Submission to State monitoring of the supervisory authorities of the Länder responsible for monitoring the processing of personal data in the private sector

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:






1.


Declares that, by making the authorities responsible for monitoring the processing of personal data by non-public bodies and undertakings governed by public law which compete on the market (öffentlich-rechtliche Wettbewerbsunternehmen) in the different Länder subject to State scrutiny, and by thus incorrectly transposing the requirement that those authorities perform their functions ‘with complete independence’, the Federal Republic of Germany failed to fulfil its obligations under the second subparagraph of Article 28(1) of Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data;










2.


Orders the Federal Republic of Germany to pay the costs of the Commission;










3.


Orders the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) to bear his own costs.






(1)  OJ C 37, 9.2.2008.