EU Court of Justice's Advocate General releases an opinion on interpretation of civil liability rules under the GDPR.

The Advocate General ('AG') of the Court of Justice of the European Union ('CJEU'), Manuel Campos Sánchez-Bordona, delivered, on 6 October 2022, their opinion in Case C‑300/21 UI v Österreichische Post AG concerning a reference for a preliminary ruling from the Supreme Court of Austria on the rules on civil liability laid down by the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679) ('GDPR').

In particular, the AG took the view that Article 82 of the GDPR is to be interpreted as meaning that for the purposes of the award of compensation for damage suffered by a person as a result of an infringement of the GDPR, a mere infringement of the provision is not in itself sufficient if that infringement is not accompanied by the relevant material or non-material damage.

Therefore, the AG continued, the compensation for non-material damage provided for in the GDPR does not cover mere upset which the person concerned may feel as a result of the infringement of provisions of the GDPR.

Further, the AG reasoned that it is for the national courts to determine when, owing to its characteristics, a subjective feeling of displeasure may be deemed, in each case, to be non-material damage.

Read the opinion here.