LG Bochum: Data protection violations cannot be warned off

The legal situation

We have already reported in our article "Can violations of data protection law be subject to a warning? "we reported that it is currently disputed in the literature whether violations of data protection law can also be subject to a warning under competition law. In this context, we had already referred to a first decision of the Regional Court of Würzburg (LG Würzburg, decision of 13.9.2018, ref. 11 O 1741/18 ). This court assumed that in the event of data protection violations, these violations can also be subject to a warning under competition law. We have already pointed out that we do not share the reasoning and justification of the Würzburg Regional Court and consider this decision to be legally incorrect.

The case

The Regional Court of Bochum now also had to decide on a case in which, among other things, violations of the information requirements of Article 13 of the GDPR were asserted.

The decision

In its final judgement, the Regional Court of Bochum (judgement of 07.08.2018, file number: I-12 O 85/18) granted the injunction plaintiff's application almost in its entirety. Only the claim based on the GDPR was not granted.

The Regional Court took the view that the plaintiff for the injunction could not assert the infringements of the General Data Protection Regulation via the provisions of competition law. The Regional Court stated that the General Data Protection Regulation in Articles 77 to 84 of the GDPR contains conclusive regulations that exclude the claims of competitors. Therefore, in the opinion of the Regional Court of Bochum, the assertion of data protection violations in the context of disputes under competition law is not possible via the regulations of the UWG.

In contrast, the Regional Court of Würzburg, the Regional Court of Bochum dealt with the content of the disputed legal question of whether data protection violations can also be warned under competition law. The decision of the Bochum Regional Court is also shared by renowned representatives in the literature. It remains to be seen how further courts will decide. In any case, the topic of "DSGVO warning letters" has now become topical. It remains to be seen whether the long-awaited wave of cease-and-desist letters will come.

Our recommendation

In any case, we strongly recommend that you set up your company in a data protection-compliant manner, as otherwise you could face considerable fines as well as warnings under competition law.

 

GoldbergUllrich Attorneys at Law 2018

Attorney at Law Michael Ullrich, LL.M. (Information Law)

Specialist lawyer for information technology law (IT law)

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