Press Release: Review of relationship between transparency and data protection more urgent after Court ruling on Bavarian Lager

The European Court of Justice has issued its ruling on the so-called 'Bavarian Lager' case, a case that has been closely followed as a key case on the question on how best to reconcile the fundamental right to the protection of personal data with the fundamental right of public access to documents.

The Court of Justice clarified certain key concepts in the Data Protection Regulation and interpreted the Access to Documents Regulation with regard to the right to privacy and data protection.

The Court confirmed the judgment of the General Court that surnames and forenames are personal data and that the communication of such data falls within the definition of 'processing' for the purposes of the Data Protection Regulation.