Keywords
Summary

Keywords

1. Approximation of laws — Directive 95/46 — Scope — Determination in accordance with the subject-matter of the directive — Abolition of barriers to the functioning of the internal market — (Directive 95/46 of the European Parliament and of the Council)

2. Approximation of laws — Directive 95/46 — Interpretation in the light of fundamental rights — (Directive 95/46 of the European Parliament and of the Council)

3. Community law — Principles — Fundamental rights — Respect for private life — Interference within the meaning of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights — (European Convention on Human Rights, Art. 8)

4. Community law — Principles — Fundamental rights — Respect for private life — Restriction — National legislation requiring a State control body to collect and communicate, for purposes of publication, data on the income of persons employed by bodies subject to that control where the income exceeds a certain threshold — Justification under Article 8(2) of the European Convention on Human Rights — Objective of public interest — Management of public funds — Proportionality — (European Convention on Human Rights, Art. 8(2))

5. Approximation of laws — Directive 95/46 — National legislation requiring a State control body to collect and communicate, for purposes of publication, data on the income of persons employed by bodies subject to that control where the income exceeds a certain threshold — Permissible — Condition — Disclosure necessary with regard to the objective of proper management of public funds — Proportionality — (Directive 95/46 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Arts 6(1)(c) and 7(c) and (e))

6. Acts of the institutions — Directives — Effect — Non-implementation by a Member State — Right of individuals to rely on the directive — Conditions — (Art. 249, third para., EC; Directive 95/46 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Arts 6(1)(c) and 7(c) and (e))

Summary

1. The applicability of Directive 95/46 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data cannot depend on whether the specific situations at issue have a sufficient link with the exercise of the fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the Treaty, in particular the freedom of movement of workers. A contrary interpretation could make the limits of the field of application of the directive particularly unsure and uncertain, which would be contrary to its essential objective of approximating the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States in order to eliminate obstacles to the functioning of the internal market deriving precisely from disparities between national legislations.

see para. 42

2. The provisions of Directive 95/46 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, in so far as they govern the processing of personal data liable to infringe fundamental freedoms, in particular the right to privacy, must necessarily be interpreted in the light of fundamental rights, which form an integral part of the general principles of law whose observance the Court ensures.

see para. 68

3. While the mere recording by an employer of data by name relating to the remuneration paid to his employees cannot as such constitute an interference with private life, the communication of that data to third parties, in the present case a public authority, infringes the right of the persons concerned to respect for private life, whatever the subsequent use of the information thus communicated, and constitutes an interference within the meaning of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

To establish the existence of such an interference, it does not matter whether the information communicated is of a sensitive character or whether the persons concerned have been inconvenienced in any way. It suffices to find that data relating to the remuneration received by an employee or pensioner have been communicated by the employer to a third party.

see paras 74-75

4. The interference with private life resulting from the application of national legislation which requires a State control body to collect and communicate, for purposes of publication, data on the income of persons employed by the bodies subject to that control, where that income exceeds a certain threshold, may be justified under Article 8(2) of the European Convention on Human Rights only in so far as the wide disclosure not merely of the amounts of the annual income above a certain threshold of persons employed by the bodies subject to control by the State body in question but also of the names of the recipients of that income is both necessary for and appropriate to the aim of keeping salaries within reasonable limits, that being a matter for the national courts to examine.

see para. 90

5. Articles 6(1)(c) and 7(c) and (e) of Directive 95/46 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data do not preclude national legislation requiring a State control body to collect and communicate, for purposes of publication, data on the income of persons employed by the bodies subject to that control, where that income exceeds a certain threshold, provided that it is shown that the wide disclosure not merely of the amounts of the annual income above a certain threshold of persons employed by the bodies subject to control by the State body in question but also of the names of the recipients of that income is necessary for and appropriate to the objective of proper management of public funds pursued by the legislature, that being for the national courts to ascertain.

see para. 94, operative part 1

6. Wherever the provisions of a directive appear, so far as their subject-matter is concerned, to be unconditional and sufficiently precise, they may, in the absence of implementing measures adopted within the prescribed period, be relied on against any national provision which is incompatible with the directive or in so far as they define rights which individuals are able to assert against the State.

Such a character may be attributed to Article 6(1)(c) of Directive 95/46 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, under which "personal data must be ... adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purposes for which they are collected and/or further processed" , and to Article 7(c) or (e) of that directive, under which personal data may be processed only if inter alia "processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject" or "is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller ... to whom the data are disclosed" .

see paras 98, 100-101, operative part 2