The legal dispute over a million-dollar fine by the Berlin data protection authority against the real estate group Deutsche Wohnen SE has been referred back to the Berlin regional court. This emerges from a ruling by the higher Berlin Chamber Court, which was published on the Internet portal of the Berlin judiciary.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) had previously dealt with the fine of 14.5 million euros for a violation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which the then Berlin Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information, Maja Smoltczyk, issued in November 2019 against which Deutsche Wohnen had imposed. The company has been part of the Vonovia real estate group since 2021.
What data can a real estate company store about its tenants?
The procedure is about what data a real estate company can store about its tenants. Specifically, the Berlin data protection authority accused Deutsche Wohnen of failing to regularly delete tenant data that was no longer needed. At the beginning of the proceedings, the Berlin Regional Court received the fine because the authority had not named a specific person responsible for the violation.
The ECJ was then involved in the appeal proceedings before the Berlin Court of Appeal. On December 5, 2023, in contrast to the regional court, it decided that data protection authorities may impose fines on companies even if they have not found any administrative offense committed by a natural manager.
At the same time, the Luxembourg judges also decided that a fine may only be imposed on a company if a violation was committed “culpably”, i.e. “intentionally” or at least “negligently”. The acting Berlin Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information, Meike Kamp, said that her authority had clearly stated in the fine notice that Deutsche Wohnen SE had acted intentionally. This is disputed by Deutsche Wohnen SE.
Corporate lawyers expect a longer process
The company’s lawyers are now preparing for a longer process. “Nothing has been decided in terms of content. On the contrary: so far it has only been about procedural questions,” said lawyer Tim Wybitul from the Latham law firm
Wybitul is also sure that the case from Berlin will end up in Luxembourg again. For example, the ECJ would then have to decide whether it follows the authority’s views. “The courts have not yet dealt with the essential questions of data protection, such as when data must be deleted or how it may be archived.”
The Berlin data protection officer Kamp, on the other hand, expects the regional court to make a decision soon. “Now that the European Court of Justice has clarified the essential legal questions, the regional court can now deal with the fine notice in the matter.”
