Case C-65/23, K GmbH (Processing of employees’ personal data): Judgment of the Court (Eighth Chamber) of 19 December 2024 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesarbeitsgericht – Germany) – MK v K GmbH (Reference for a preliminary ruling – Protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data – Regulation (EU) 2016/679 – Article 88(1) and (2) – Processing in the context of employment – Employees’ personal data – More specific rules provided for by a Member State pursuant to that Article 88 – Obligation to comply with Article 5, Article 6(1) and Article 9(1) and (2) of that regulation – Processing on the basis of a collective agreement – Margin of discretion of the parties to the collective agreement as regards the necessity of the processing of personal data provided for by that agreement – Scope of judicial review)
Date: 2024-12-19
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: Germany, collective agreement, data protection, data-processing law, indemnification, judicial review, national law, personal data, staff








C_202501060EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2025/1060


24.2.2025






Judgment of the Court (Eighth Chamber) of 19 December 2024 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesarbeitsgericht – Germany) – MK v K GmbH


(Case C-65/23,
                (1)
K GmbH (Processing of employees’ personal data))

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data - Regulation (EU) 2016/679 - Article 88(1) and (2) - Processing in the context of employment - Employees’ personal data - More specific rules provided for by a Member State pursuant to that Article 88 - Obligation to comply with Article 5, Article 6(1) and Article 9(1) and (2) of that regulation - Processing on the basis of a collective agreement - Margin of discretion of the parties to the collective agreement as regards the necessity of the processing of personal data provided for by that agreement - Scope of judicial review)
(C/2025/1060)
Language of the case: German

Referring court

Bundesarbeitsgericht

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicant: MK

Defendant: K GmbH

Operative part of the judgment







1.


Article 88(1) and (2) 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 meaning that a provision of national law which concerns the processing of personal data for the purposes of employment relationships and has been adopted pursuant to Article 88(1) of that regulation must have the effect of requiring its addressees to comply not only with the requirements arising from Article 88(2) of that regulation, but also with those arising from Article 5, Article 6(1) and Article 9(1) and (2) thereof.










2.


Article 88(1) of Regulation 2016/679
must be interpreted as meaning that, where a collective agreement falls within the scope of that provision, the margin of discretion that the parties to that agreement have to determine whether the processing of personal data is ‘necessary’, within the meaning of Article 5, Article 6(1) and Article 9(1) and (2) of that regulation, does not prevent the national court from carrying out a full judicial review in that regard.






(1)  
            OJ C 173, 15.5.2023.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/1060/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)