Apple Distribution International Limited – Court Ruling (France, 2025)

The DPA imposed an €8 million administrative fine on Apple (the controller) in 2022 (CNIL - SAN-2022-025). The DPA found that Apple used identifiers stored on users’ devices to enable personalized advertising in the App Store without first obtaining valid user consent, as required by Article 82 of the French Data Protection Act, which implements Article 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive. Apple challenged the sanction before the Supreme Administrative Court (Conseil d’État), arguing that the DPA lacked jurisdiction, that the investigation violated Apple’s procedural rights, that the advertising-related processing did not fall within the scope of Article 82, and that the case should be referred to the Court of Justice of the EU. Apple also claimed that the fine was disproportionate. The court held that reading identifiers stored on user devices for the purpose of delivering personalised advertising constitutes access to information under Article 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive, requiring the controller to obtain the user’s prior consent. It reasoned that since this operation was to implement personalized advertising it could not fall within the exemptions to the consent requirement. The court found that the national authority was competent because the controller’s establishment within the country contributed to the advertising operations in question. It did so by marketing devices pre-equipped with the App Store where personalized advertising appears and by providing Search Ads Specialists who helped monetize and optimize that advertising space. It also rejected the controller’s claim that the authority had violated its procedural rights, finding that the right to remain silent did not apply during CNIL investigations and that the authority had lawfully carried out the investigation providing sufficient opportunity for the controller to respond. Additionally, the court rejected Apple's request to reference the case to the Court of Justice of the EU stating that there wasn't any reasonable doubt Finally, it held that the €8 million fine was proportionate, noting the scale of the processing, the number of affected users, and the economic significance of the advertising activity.