Legislation
Data Protection Directive
Case Law
Joined Cases C-465/00, C-138/01 and
C-139/01, Rechnungshof v Österreichischer Rundfunk and Others
[2003] EUECJ C-138/01 (20 May 2003)
Information and Communications Technology: Case Note - Österreichischer Rundfunk,
10 Jun 2004
This case note first appeared on the NIPC website
These conjoined cases were referred to the European Court under art 234 of the Rome Treaty by the Constitutional and Supreme Courts of Austria. The issue was whether Community law and in particular the Data Protection Directive precludes compliance with an Austrian statute requiring state employers to disclose the identity, and particulars of the remuneration of, employees earning more than a specified minimum to a federal audit authority. It arose in the course of applications by senior employees of the Austrian broadcasting corporation for interim injunctions to restrain their employer from disclosing data to them to the authority.
A preliminary issue was whether the Directive could have any application at all given that the information in question would never leave Austria and that the purpose of the law was to regulate public accounts. The Court held that it did since the purpose of the legislation was to establish Community-wide standards of data processing to allow personal data to be transmitted confidently throughout the EC.
The Court held that the data in question was "personal data" within the meaning of art 2 (a) of the Directive and that the proposed use was "processing" for the purposes of art 2 (b) and that any use had to comply with the European Convention on Human Rights and in particular the right to privacy. However, such right was not absolute and could be overridden by a sufficient national imperative. As the purpose of the statute was to safeguard public funds, it was not unreasonable for the data in question to be provided to the authority. In the circumstances, EC law did not necessarily preclude compliance with the legislation.
