European Commission – CJEU Judgment (European Union, 2025)

An academic researcher (the data subject) received EU funding for a project. The European Commission was initially a party to the funding agreement, but was later replaced by the European Research Council Executive Agency (ERCEA). The ERCEA later carried out a financial audit and informed the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) of the results. OLAF alleged that the data subject had fraudulently claimed part of the funding for personal expenses, and published a press release on its website. The data subject brought an action to the General Court, requesting compensation from the Commission for the damage caused by the press release. The General Court dismissed the action, and stated that there was no violation of the data subject’s rights. According to the General Court, whether the data subject is identifiable depends on the ‘means reasonably likely to be used’ to identify the applicant as well as whether the ‘average or likely reader’ of said press release would be able to identify them. The General Court did not take into account the journalist that identified the data subject, as it did not fall under the definition of "average reader"See: GC - T‑384/20 - OC v Commission. The data subject appealed the decision to the CJEU. The CJEU held that the General Court had misinterpreted the EUDPR and GDPR; the CJEU dismissed the General Court’s reasoning of the “average reader”, and stated that the information in the press release (such as the data subject’s gender, nationality, grant amount and father’s occupation) allow the data subject to be identifiable.See CJEU - C‑479/22 P - OC v Commission The CJEU referred the case back to the General Court. The Commission argued that the press release is anonymous, does not disclose any personal data of the data subject and does not contain inaccurate data. Therefore, the press release cannot cause the data subject any harm. The Court first clarified that there are three cumulative conditions for the EU to incur non-contractua