Court case 27 O 60/24 – Court Ruling (Germany, 2024)

The controller is a telecommunications company. The data subject and the controller entered into a mobile phone contract. During the conclusion of the contract the controller provided the data subject with an information sheet that included information about the transfer of personal data to the Schufa, a credit rating agency. Subsequently, the controller transferred the name, the date of birth, the address, and information about the conclusion of the contract to Schufa. Following his request, Schufa informed the data subject about the data forwarded by the controller. In a [https://www.schufa.de/newsroom/schufa/daten-loeschung-telekommunikationskonten/ press release made public on 19 October 2023], Schufa informed the public that it was going to delete information transferred by telecommunication companies by the 20 October 2023. Schufa noted that the Conference of the German Data Protection Agencies (Datenschutzkonferenz der Länder) was of the [https://www.datenschutzkonferenz-online.de/media/dskb/20210929_top_07_beschluss_positivdaten.pdf opinion] that the transfer and processing of so called positive data (i.e. data without connection to a payment default or another violation of the contract by the data subject) required the consent of the data subject. Data concerning the conclusion of a contract would constitute such positive data. With his lawsuit, the data subject claimed, inter alia, €4,000 in non-material damages. The court recognised the controller’s interest in lowering its financial risk. If the controller enters into a contract in which it periodically charges the client for its services without a pre-paid system, there is a certain risk of the client not paying for services made in advance. This risk increases when the client is handed a mobile phone at the beginning of the long term contract. Therefore, a risk of being defrauded exists for the controller. The court further recognises the possible advantage of a standardised notification about the co