Open Rights Group – Court Ruling (United Kingdom, 2021)

Court Ruling
DPA EWHC29 October 2021United Kingdom
final
Court Ruling

General GDPR enforcement action

This case relates to broader data protection obligations, not specifically to cookie or consent banner compliance. It is not included in cookie statistics or the Risk Calculator.

The Open Rights Group and The3million challenged a UK law that limits data protection rights for immigrants. The court agreed that this law conflicts with privacy rights under the GDPR. This case is significant as it could lead to changes in how data protection laws are applied to vulnerable groups.

What happened

The Open Rights Group and The3million argued against the immigration exemption in the UK Data Protection Act 2018.

Who was affected

Individuals affected include immigrants in the UK whose data protection rights may be limited by the law.

What the authority found

The court held that the immigration exemption was contrary to GDPR rules, but deferred the decision on what relief should be granted.

Why this matters

This case could set a precedent for how data protection laws are interpreted and enforced, particularly for vulnerable populations. Organizations should stay informed about potential changes in data protection laws.

GDPR Articles Cited

AI-verified

Art. 23(GDPR)
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Art. 23(GDPR)

Original data from scraper before AI verification against source document.

National Law Articles

AI-identified

§4 of Schedule 2 to the Data Protection Act 2018
Decision AuthorityEWCA
Reviewed AuthorityEWHC (UK)
Source verified 10 April 2026
national law identified
authority corrected
Full Legal Summary
Detailed

The two claimants are The Open Rights Group and The3million, who are respectively a UK-based digital campaigning organisation working to protect the rights to privacy and free speech online and an organisation campaigning for EU citizens in the UK. In August 2018, they brought a judicial review claim against the lawfulness of the immigration exemption in paragraph 4, Schedule 2, of the Data Protection Act 2018 ('DPA 2018'), which was brought into force on 25 May 2018 ('Immigration Exemption'). They argued that the Immigration Exemption is contrary to Article 23 GDPR and incompatible with the rights guaranteed by Articles 7 and 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU. [https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2019/2562.html The High Court (Admin) judge dismissed these claims]. The claimants appealed this decision, which [https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2021/800.html the EWCA allowed in May 2020]. At this stage of the appeal, it held the “Immigration Exemption” was indeed contrary to Article 23 GDPR. It nonetheless did not decide what form of relief should be granted at that stage, because this issue raised legal issues that needed to be carefully assessed in separate proceedings. As such, the decision on relief was deferred to this case. To decide what form of relief it should grant the claimants, the EWCA first analysed whether it (1) had jurisdiction to suspend relief for a period of time and, if so (2) whether/to what extent/for how long it should exercise it. = The EWCA first stated that the UK GDPR is retained EU law and therefore has supremacy over domestic primary legislation. It nonetheless explained that this does not entitle the court "to make a quashing order in respect of primary legislation", as this would be constitutionally improper, but only to "make a declaratory judgment or order". It summarised the test to be followed, which essentially mirrors the provisions in [https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2018/16/section/6 sectio

Outcome

Court Ruling

A ruling by a national court on a data-protection matter.

Related Cases (0)

No other cases found for Open Rights Group in UK

This is the only recorded case for this entity in this jurisdiction.

Details

Ruling Date

29 October 2021

Authority

DPA EWHC

About this data

Data: GDPRhub (noyb.eu)
Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
AI-verified and classified

Cite as: Cookie Fines. Open Rights Group - United Kingdom (2021). Retrieved from cookiefines.eu

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