Weltimmo s. r. o. – CJEU Judgment (Hungary, 2015)
CJEU precedent (Directive 95/46/EC, pre-GDPR)
This is a Court of Justice judgment predating the GDPR. It interprets Directive 95/46/EC (the Data Protection Directive). It is not a cookie or ePrivacy case and is excluded from cookie statistics and the Risk Calculator.
The Court of Justice of the European Union decided that Hungarian data protection laws could apply to a Slovakian company operating a website for Hungarian properties. This decision is important because it clarifies that companies must comply with local data protection laws when they target users in that country. Website operators should be aware of the data protection laws in all countries where they have users.
What happened
Weltimmo, a Slovakian company, was found to be subject to Hungarian data protection laws for its operations targeting Hungarian users.
Who was affected
Advertisers on Weltimmo's property dealing website for Hungarian properties.
What the authority found
The Court ruled that Hungarian data protection laws could apply to Weltimmo because it targeted Hungarian users, even though it was based in Slovakia.
Why this matters
This ruling clarifies that companies must comply with the data protection laws of the countries where their users are located, not just where the company is based. It serves as a reminder for businesses to consider local laws when operating internationally.
Weltimmo was a company registered in Slovakia that ran a property dealing website concerning Hungarian properties. For that purpose, it processed the personal data of advertisers. The advertisements were free of charge for one month but a fee had to be paid once this time had passed. Many advertisers sent a request by e-mail for the deletion of both their advertisements and their personal data as from that period. However, Weltimmo did not delete those data and charged the interested parties for the price of its services. As the amounts charged were not paid, Weltimmo forwarded the personal data of the advertisers concerned to debt collection agencies. These advertisers lodged complaints with the Hungarian data protection authority, which fined the company HUF 10 million (approximately €32,000). Weltimmo appealed the fine before the Budapest administrative and labour court, which set aside the DPA's decision on the basis that certain facts were unclear. The company then appealed this decision to the Kúria submitting that there was no need for further clarification of the facts, since, pursuant to Article 4(1)(a) of Directive 95/46, the Hungarian DPA in this case was not competent and could not apply Hungarian law in respect of a supplier of services established in another Member State. Weltimmo also maintained that, under Article 28(6) of Directive 95/46, the Hungarian DPA should have asked the Slovak DPA to act in its place. The Kúria had doubts concerning the determination of the applicable law and the powers of the Hungarian data protection authority under Articles 4(1) and 28 of Directive 95/46, and therefore decided to stay the proceedings and refer the following questions to the CJEU for a preliminary ruling: # Can Article 28(1) of Directive 95/46 be interpreted as meaning that the provisions of national law of a Member State are applicable in its territory to a situation where a data controller runs a property dealing website established only in another Mem
Outcome
CJEU Judgment
A judgment by the Court of Justice of the European Union, typically on a preliminary reference from a national court.
Related Cases (0)
No other cases found for Weltimmo s. r. o. in HU
This is the only recorded case for this entity in this jurisdiction.
Details
Judgment Date
1 October 2015
Authority
Court of Justice of the European Union
GDPRhub ID
gdprhub-cjeu-4363About this data
Cite as: Cookie Fines. Weltimmo s. r. o. - Hungary (2015). Retrieved from cookiefines.eu
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