Preliminary Questions Referred To ECJ – Compensation For Immaterial Damages Under Art. 82 GDPR

In a recent judgment, rendered on 15 April 2021, the Austrian Supreme Court (Oberste Gerichtshof, OGH) held that the processing of data on the subject's affinity for a political party constitutes a special category of personal data. This applies even if the data concerned is based on anonymized polls and statistics.

In addition, by request for a preliminary ruling pursuant to Art. 267 TFEU, the OGH submitted fundamental questions pertaining to the interpretation of Art. 82 GDPR to the European Court of Justice (CJEU). More specifically, it sought clarification on the requirements of awarding damages based on GDPR violations and the assessment of said compensation under Art. 82 GDPR.