CJEU: Mandatory publication of CAP beneficiaries' personal data violates proportionality

Interference with the fundamental rights of privacy and data protection: Chapter of Fundamental Rights (CFR) Article 52(1) accepts that limitations may be imposed on fundamental rights, as long as they are provided by law, respect the essence of those rights and are proportionate (necessary and genuinely meet objectives of general interest recognized by the EU or the need to protect the rights and freedoms of others.) The CJEU concluded that by imposing an obligation to publish personal data relating to each natural person who was a beneficiary of aid from certain agricultural funds without drawing a distinction based on relevant criteria, such as the periods during which those persons received such aid, the frequency of such aid or the nature and amount thereof, the Council and the Commission had exceeded the limits imposed by the principle of proportionality. In this case, the interference is not proportionate as “there is nothing to show that lawmakers made an effort to strike a balance” with respect to the data of natural persons.

As to whether the measure is necessary, it must be recalled that the objective of the publication at issue may not be pursued without having regard to the fact that that objective must be reconciled with the fundamental rights set forth in Articles 7 and 8 of the Charter (see, to that effect, Case C‑73/07 Satakunnan Markkinapörssi and Satamedia [2008] ECR I‑9831, paragraph 53).

It is thus necessary to determine whether the Council of the European Union and the Commission balanced the European Union’s interest in guaranteeing the transparency of its acts and ensuring the best use of public funds against the interference with the right of the beneficiaries concerned to respect for their private life in general and to the protection of their personal data in particular. The Court has held in this respect that derogations and limitations in relation to the protection of personal data must apply only in so far as is strictly necessary (Satakunnan Markkinapörssi and Satamedia, paragraph 56).