Sofiyski gradski sad (Sofia City Court, Bulgaria) – CJEU Judgment (European Union, 2026)
CJEU judgment — not a DPA enforcement action
This is a Court of Justice ruling, not an enforcement action by a data protection authority. It is not included in cookie statistics or the Risk Calculator.
The Court of Justice ruled on a case involving a Bulgarian taxi driver accused of bribery, questioning the legality of how personal data is requested in court. This matters because it raises concerns about privacy rights in legal proceedings. Companies should be aware of how legal requirements can impact data handling.
What happened
The Sofia City Court questioned the legality of requesting additional personal data for verifying a person's identity in a criminal case.
Who was affected
The taxi driver involved in the bribery case and potentially other individuals in similar situations.
What the authority found
The court raised doubts about whether the national law on data requests is compatible with constitutional rights and referred the matter to the CJEU for clarification.
Why this matters
This ruling could influence how personal data is handled in legal contexts, highlighting the balance between law enforcement needs and individual privacy rights.
In September 2023, the Bulgarian Public Prosecutor’s Office brought a criminal case against a data subject to the Sofia City Court. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the data subject bribed police officers, and worked as a taxi driver without the necessary license. During the proceedings, the court requested personal data from the data subject in order to verify their identity. While a data subject can be identified with their identity card, national law requires national courts to ask further questions to further verify the data subject’s identity.Article 272(1) of the Bulgarian Code of Criminal Procedure (NPK). See [https://www.dato.bg/docs/Criminal_Procedure_Code-%D0%9D%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%BD%D0%BE-%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%86%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%83%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BD%20%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81.pdf here]. The court had doubts on the compatibility of said national law provisions with the Bulgarian Constitution, and stayed proceedings. In addition, the court had doubts on whether requesting additional information (e.g. place of birth, ethnicity, or marital status) is necessary, and whether the national provisions are consistent with [https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32016L0680 Article 10 of the Law Enforcement Directive (LED)]. The court referred the matter to the Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court refused to give a substantive ruling, and the court therefore requested a preliminary ruling from the CJEU. The AG first stated that the data processing fell in the scope of the LED in accordance with [https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32016L0680 Article 2(1) LED]. The LED is applicable if the data processing is carried out by a competent authority ([https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32016L0680 Article 3(7) LED]) and for the purposes listed in [https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32016L0680 Article 1(
Outcome
CJEU Judgment
A judgment by the Court of Justice of the European Union, typically on a preliminary reference from a national court.
Related Cases (0)
No other cases found for Sofiyski gradski sad (Sofia City Court, Bulgaria) in EU
This is the only recorded case for this entity in this jurisdiction.
Details
About this data
Cite as: Cookie Fines. Sofiyski gradski sad (Sofia City Court, Bulgaria) - European Union (2026). Retrieved from cookiefines.eu
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