by Tim Wybitul,  Dr. Christoph Baus,  Dr. Isabelle Brams

The German Federal Constitutional Court has ruled that the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) needs to clarify if the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) provides for a materiality threshold for GDPR damage claims. The decision overturns a judgment of the Goslar Local Court of 27 September 2019 regarding the unlawful sending of an advertising email.

The fact that the Federal Constitutional Court took the insignificant case of a single unlawful advertising email as an opportunity to clarify the CJEU’s prerogative of interpreting the GDPR is a notable and surprising development.

See Latham’s full analysis here.