Case C-21/23, Lindenapotheke: Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 4 October 2024 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesgerichtshof – Germany) – ND v DR (Reference for a preliminary ruling – Protection of personal data – Regulation (EU) 2016/679 – Chapter VIII – Remedies – Medicinal products marketed by a pharmacist on an online platform – Action brought before the national civil courts by a competitor of that pharmacist on the basis of the prohibition of unfair commercial practices for infringement by the pharmacist of the obligations laid down by that regulation – Standing to bring proceedings – Article 4(15) and Article 9(1) and (2) – Directive 95/46/EC – Article 8(1) and (2) – Concept of data concerning health – Conditions for the processing of those data)
Date: 2024-10-04
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: civil proceedings, competition, data protection, data-processing law, electronic commerce, over-the-counter drug, personal data, pharmacist, restriction on competition








C_202500689EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2025/689


10.2.2025






Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 4 October 2024 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesgerichtshof – Germany) – ND v DR


(Case C-21/23,
                (1)
Lindenapotheke)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Protection of personal data - Regulation (EU) 2016/679 - Chapter VIII - Remedies - Medicinal products marketed by a pharmacist on an online platform - Action brought before the national civil courts by a competitor of that pharmacist on the basis of the prohibition of unfair commercial practices for infringement by the pharmacist of the obligations laid down by that regulation - Standing to bring proceedings - Article 4(15) and Article 9(1) and (2) - Directive 95/46/EC - Article 8(1) and (2) - Concept of ‘data concerning health’ - Conditions for the processing of those data)
(C/2025/689)
Language of the case: German

Referring court

Bundesgerichtshof

Parties to the main proceedings


Defendant and appellant in the appeal on a point of law: ND

Applicant and respondent in the appeal on a point of law: DR

Operative part of the judgment







1.


The provisions of Chapter VIII of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation),
must be interpreted as not precluding national legislation which, alongside the powers of intervention of the supervisory authorities responsible for monitoring and enforcing that regulation and the remedies available to data subjects, confers on competitors of the person allegedly responsible for an infringement of the laws protecting personal data standing to bring proceedings against that person, by means of an action before the civil courts, for infringements of that regulation and on the basis of the prohibition of unfair commercial practices.










2.


Article 8(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, and Article 9(1) of Regulation 2016/679,
must be interpreted as meaning that, in a situation where the operator of a pharmacy markets pharmacy-only medicinal products on an online platform, the information which the customers of that operator enter when ordering the medicinal products online, such as their name, the delivery address and the details required for individualising the medicinal products, constitutes data concerning health, within the meaning of those provisions, even where the sale of those medicinal products does not require a prescription.






(1)  
            OJ C 155, 2.5.2023.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/689/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)