Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 24 November 2011 (references for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunal Supremo — Spain) — Asociación Nacional de Establecimientos Financieros de Crédito (ASNEF) (C-468/10), Federación de Comercio Electrónico y Marketing Directo (FECEMD) (C-469/10) v Administración del Estado

(Joined Cases C-468/10 and C-469/10) (1)

(Processing of personal data - Directive 95/46/EC - Article 7(f) - Direct effect)

(2012/C 25/30)

Language of the cases: Spanish

Referring court

Tribunal Supremo

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicants: Asociación Nacional de Establecimientos Financieros de Crédito (ASNEF) (C-468/10), Federación de Comercio Electrónico y Marketing Directo (FECEMD) (C-469/10)

Defendant: Administración del Estado

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Tribunal Supremo — Interpretation of Article 7(f) 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) — Processing of data by controllers and communication to the addressees to satisfy their respective legitimate interests — Additional requirements — Direct effect of the provisions of a directive

Operative part of the judgment

Article 7(f) 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 must be interpreted as precluding national rules which, in the absence of the data subject’s consent, and in order to allow such processing of that data subject’s personal data as is necessary to pursue a legitimate interest of the data controller or of the third party or parties to whom those data are disclosed, require not only that the fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subject be respected, but also that the data should appear in public sources, thereby excluding, in a categorical and generalised way, any processing of data not appearing in such sources.

2.	Article 7(f) of Directive 95/46 has direct effect.

(1) OJ C 346, 18.12.2010.