Court case ECLI:DE:LGMS:2023:0704.16O238.22.00 – Court Ruling (Germany, 2023)

The data subject had faced insolvency proceedings, which were announced on a publicly accessible database. This publication is legally retained and made publicly available for 6 months following insolvency proceedings under German law.§3 of the Ordinance on Public Announcements in Insolvency Proceedings and Restructuring Matters on the Internet (InsBekV) available, [https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/insobekv/__3.html here]. A credit agency (the controller) had negatively registered the data subject using the information from the public database and transmitted the data subject’s negative registration to its contractual partners. As a result, the data subject was unable to apply for credit products. After being rejected for various credit-related applications due to their negative registration, the data subject filed a suit against the credit agency in the Regional Court of Münster. The Court held that the controller was in violation of Article 6(1) GDPR, as they lacked a legal basis for processing the data subject’s data. The Court held that the controller was unable to rely on Article 6(1)(f) GDPR for processing, because the economic interests of the controller could not override those of the data subject. Moreover, the controller had retained the data subject’s insolvency information beyond the 6-month period provided for under domestic law. The data subject’s interests and rights took precedence over those of the controller. The negative registration created an unwarranted detriment to the data subject’s economic life. The Court concluded that the controller’s processing significantly interfered with the data subject’s constitutional right to self-determination under Article 1,2 of German Basic Law, the right to data protection under Article 8 of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights, and the data subject’s general freedom of action, freedom of contract, and the freedom to exercise a profession. Consequently, the controller was unable to rely on Article