Case C-73/16: Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 27 September 2017 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Najvyšší súd Slovenskej republiky — Slovakia) — Peter Puškár v Finančné riaditeľstvo Slovenskej republiky, Kriminálny úrad finančnej správy (Reference for a preliminary ruling — Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union — Articles 7, 8 and 47 — Directive 95/46/EC — Articles 1, 7 and 13 — Processing of personal data — Article 4(3) TEU — Drawing up of a list of personal data — Subject matter — Tax collection — Fight against tax fraud — Judicial review — Protection of fundamental rights and freedoms — Legal action dependent on a requirement of a prior administrative complaint — Whether that list is permissible as evidence — Rules on the lawfulness of the processing of personal data — Performance of a task carried out in the public interest by the controller)
Date: 2017-09-27
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: data protection, fundamental rights, judicial review, personal data, principle of proportionality, right to justice, tax authorities, tax collection, tax offence








C_2017402EN.01000401.xml










27.11.2017   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 402/4





Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 27 September 2017 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Najvyšší súd Slovenskej republiky — Slovakia) — Peter Puškár v Finančné riaditeľstvo Slovenskej republiky, Kriminálny úrad finančnej správy
(Case C-73/16) (1)

((Reference for a preliminary ruling - Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union - Articles 7, 8 and 47 - Directive 95/46/EC - Articles 1, 7 and 13 - Processing of personal data - Article 4(3) TEU - Drawing up of a list of personal data - Subject matter - Tax collection - Fight against tax fraud - Judicial review - Protection of fundamental rights and freedoms - Legal action dependent on a requirement of a prior administrative complaint - Whether that list is permissible as evidence - Rules on the lawfulness of the processing of personal data - Performance of a task carried out in the public interest by the controller))
(2017/C 402/04)
Language of the case: Slovak

Referring court

Najvyšší súd Slovenskej republiky

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicant: Peter Puškár

Defendants: Finančné riaditeľstvo Slovenskej republiky, Kriminálny úrad finančnej správy

Operative part of the judgment







1)


Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union must be interpreted as meaning that it does not preclude national legislation, which makes the exercise of a judicial remedy by a person stating that his right to protection of personal data guaranteed by 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, has been infringed, subject to the prior exhaustion of the remedies available to him before the national administrative authorities, provided that the practical arrangements for the exercise of such remedies do not disproportionately affect the right to an effective remedy before a court referred to in that article. It is important, in particular, that the prior exhaustion of the available remedies before the national administrative authorities does not lead to a substantial delay in bringing a legal action, that it involves the suspension of the limitation period of the rights concerned and that it does not involve excessive costs.










2)


Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union must be interpreted as precluding that a national court rejects, as evidence of an infringement of the protection of personal data conferred by Directive 95/46, a list, such as the contested list, submitted by the data subject and containing personal data relating to him, if that person had obtained that list without the consent, legally required, of the person responsible for processing that data, unless such rejection is laid down by national legislation and respects both the essential content of the right to an effective remedy and the principle of proportionality.










3)


Article 7(e) Directive 95/46 must be interpreted as not precluding the processing of personal data by the authorities of a Member State for the purpose of collecting tax and combating tax fraud such as that effected by drawing up of a list of persons such as that at issue in the main proceedings, without the consent of the data subjects, provided that, first, those authorities were invested by the national legislation with tasks carried out in the public interest within the meaning of that article, that the drawing-up of that list and the inclusion on it of the names of the data subjects in fact be adequate and necessary for the attainment of the objectives pursued and that there be sufficient indications to assume that the data subjects are rightly included in that list and, second, that all of the conditions for the lawfulness of that processing of personal data imposed by Directive 95/46 be satisfied.






(1)  OJ C 165, 10.5.2016.