Municipal administration association for water supply – Court Ruling (Germany, 2022)

A water meter with a radio module is installed at the claimant's home (data subject) by a municipal water supplier (defendant, controller). The data subject believes that the installation of the radio water meter violates their fundamental right to data protection, as the device allows conclusions to be drawn about individual water use, which constitutes personal data. At their request, the controller switched off the radio module, for which the controller imposed the costs on them in the form of an administrative fee notice. The data subject appealed the fee notice. The Administrative Court of Cottbus (VG Cottbus) held that the installation of a water meter with a radio module may already be considered data processing (Article 4(2) GDPR). Although the installation does not yet directly process data in the sense of storage, a necessary preparation, which is undoubtedly only aimed at enabling data processing, is also subject to Article 4(2) GDPR. In the present case, the processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller Article 6(1)(e) GDPR. The municipal water supplier's by-laws explicitly state that it collects data on consumption via measuring equipment and that this is done using a water meter and its readout. Article 12(5) GDPR in conjunction with Article 18(1)(d) GDPR does not prevent the charging of an administrative fee for the deactivation of the radio module of the water meter if the interests of the controller outweigh those of the data subject and the customer only objects in principle to the collection of data and does not invoke any grounds under Article Article 21(1) GDPR arising from their particular situation. The mere concern for one's own data protection and fear of "forced digitisation" are only general or principled interests, but not particular or individual, so that Article 21(1) GDPR does not apply.