Parliament of the Republic of Latvia (Latvijas Republikas Saeima) – CJEU Judgment (European Union, 2021)

An individual lodged a constitutional complaint reference on the national Law on Road Traffic is consistent with the fundamental right to respect for private life. The individual’s legal interest was grounded to the imposition of penalty points after some road traffic offences. These points were entered in the national register of vehicles and drivers. Moreover, any company and any third person may obtain information relating to penalty points imposed on another person, either by enquiring directly at the CSDD or by using the services provided by commercial re-users. The relative Article 14(1)(2) of national law was stated that “Information relating […] to fines for the commission of road traffic offences which have been imposed on a person […] shall be regarded as information in the public domain”. Latvian Parliament intended to improve road safety through each driver who infringes traffic regulations, particularly those disregarding them systematically, be openly identified. The only requirement for disclosure of the information, which contained in the national register of vehicles and their drivers, was subject to the condition that the information seeker must provide the national identification number of the drivers about whom they wish to enquire. The CSDD handles the National Register, and they insisted that they transfer the legal ownership of the transmitted data under no circumstances. So, the re-users should use these data only to deduce the seriousness and frequency of those offences and ascertain whether a given person has committed road traffic offences. Since penalty points were classified as public data, may be re-used for commercial or non-commercial purposes other than the initial purpose for which the information was collected. However, article 14(1)(2) of the Road Traffic National Act does not impose limits on the re-use of these data relating to penalty points. Under the contracts in which CSDD concludes with commercial re-users, the acquirer af