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Case Law · CJEU EN LLM context A cited markdown file you can paste into your AI assistant (ChatGPT, Claude, a RAG or project knowledge base) to ground it in this document. Contains: this document’s text, its sections with their topics, and the full text of every law provision it applies. Everything links back to its source on overview.legal — legal information, not advice.

CJEU: Taking and storing fingerprints in passports constitutes processing of personal data

Processing: Taking and storing fingerprints constitute processing.

Original title: SCHWARZ V. BOCHUM, 17.10.2014 (“SCHWARZ”)

Judgment

Processing
AG Opinion
Summary

(¶¶ 28–29)

Full text

summary
Processing: Taking and storing fingerprints constitute processing. (¶¶ 28–29)
¶28 excerpt
In addition, as can be seen from Article 2(b) of Directive 95/46, processing of personal data means any operation performed upon such data by a third party, such as the collecting, recording, storage, consultation or use thereof.
¶29 excerpt
Applying Article 1(2) of Regulation No 2252/2004 means that national authorities are to take a person’s fingerprints and that those fingerprints are to be kept in the storage medium in that person’s passport. Such measures must therefore be viewed as a processing of personal data.

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