Article 7 - Respect for private and family life
Key facts of the case:
Appeal – Law enforcement cooperation – Regulation (EU) 2016/794 – Article 49(3) and Article 50 – Protection of personal data – Unlawful data processing – Criminal proceedings brought in Slovakia against the appellant – Expert’s report drawn up by the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) for the purposes of the investigation – Retrieval of data from a mobile phone and a USB storage device belonging to the appellant – Disclosure of those data – Non-material damage – Actions for damages – Nature of non-contractual liability.
Outcome of the case:
On those grounds, the Court (Grand Chamber) hereby:
1. Sets aside the judgment of the General Court of the European Union of 29 September 2021, Kočner v Europol (T‑528/20, EU:T:2021:631), in so far as it rejects the first head of claim as circumscribed in that judgment;
2. Dismisses the appeal as to the remainder;
3. Orders the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) to pay compensation in the amount of EUR 2 000 to Mr Marián Kočner;
4. Dismisses the action as to the remainder;
5. Orders Mr Marián Kočner and Europol each to pay their own costs relating to both the proceedings at first instance and the appeal proceedings;
6. Orders the Slovak Republic to bear its own costs.
25 By application lodged at the Registry of the General Court on 18 August 2020, the appellant brought an action under Articles 268 and 340 TFEU and Article 50(1) of Regulation 2016/794 seeking compensation for the non-material damage which he claims to have suffered as a result of Europol’s actions. Under the first head of claim, he sought compensation in the amount of EUR 50 000 as reparation for the damage which he claims to have suffered as a result of the disclosure of personal data from the mobile telephones at issue, data which, subsequently, were published on the internet and reproduced by the Slovak press. That disclosure of personal data adversely affected his honour and professional reputation and infringed his right to respect for his private and family life and his right to respect for his communications, which are enshrined by Article 7 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (‘the Charter’). Under the second head of claim, the appellant sought compensation in the same amount as reparation for the damage which he claims to have suffered as a result of Europol’s inclusion of his name on the ‘mafia lists’.
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114 The appellant claims, on the basis of Articles 268 and 340 TFEU and Article 50(1) of Regulation 2016/794, payment of a sum of EUR 50 000 as compensation for the damage which he claims to have suffered as a result of the disclosure to the public of personal data from the mobile telephones at issue, which were made available to the public on the internet and reproduced in the Slovak press. That disclosure of personal data, through their publication, allegedly adversely affected his honour and professional reputation and infringed his right to respect for his private and family life and his right to respect for his communications, which are guaranteed in Article 7 of the Charter.
133 As regards the second and third conditions for the European Union to incur non-contractual liability under the second paragraph of Article 340 TFEU, relating to evidence of the damage suffered and the causal link between that damage and the sufficiently serious breach of a rule of EU law, which the processing of unlawful data constitutes in the present case, the appellant submits that the disclosure of his personal data contained in the mobile telephones at issue, as a result of the publication of those data, not only infringed his right to respect for his private life, but also his right to respect for his family life. That disclosure allegedly had a negative impact on the relationship between the appellant and his daughters, who were profoundly affected by the publication of those data, which indicate, inter alia, their father’s intimate relationship with his girlfriend, which was publicly exposed, and set out their intimate conversations. This resulted in a feeling of frustration and injustice and damage to the appellant’s honour and professional reputation. That disclosure also undermined his right to respect for his communications guaranteed by Article 7 of the Charter.
136 In the present case, as has been pointed out in paragraph 124 of the present judgment, the unlawful processing of data constituted by the disclosure to unauthorised persons of data relating to intimate conversations between the appellant and his girlfriend led to those data being made accessible to the public, as evidenced by their publication in the Slovak press. Having regard to the content of those conversations, it must be held that that unlawful processing of data infringed the appellant’s right to respect for his private and family life and his communications, as guaranteed by Article 7 of the Charter, and adversely affected his honour and reputation, which caused him non-material damage.
