of 24 Feb 2022, C-175/20 (Valsts ieņēmumu dienests)

Judgment of the Court (Fifth Chamber) of 24 February 2022 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Administratīvā apgabaltiesa – Latvia) – ‘SS’ SIA v Valsts ieņēmumu dienests

(Case C-175/20) 1

(Reference for a preliminary ruling – Protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data – Regulation (EU) 2016/679 – Article 2 – Scope – Article 4 – Concept of ‘processing’ – Article 5 – Principles relating to processing – Purpose limitation – Data minimisation – Article 6 – Lawfulness of processing – Processing necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest by the controller – Processing necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject – Article 23 – Limitations – Processing of data for tax purposes – Request for the disclosure of information relating to vehicle sale advertisements placed online – Proportionality)

Language of the case: Latvian

Referring court

Administratīvā apgabaltiesa

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: ‘SS’ SIA

Defendant: Valsts ieņēmumu dienests

Operative part of the judgment

1.    The provisions of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation) must be interpreted as meaning that the collection by the tax authorities of a Member State from an economic operator of information involving a significant amount of personal data is subject to the requirements of that regulation, in particular those set out in Article 5(1) thereof.

2.    The provisions of Regulation 2016/679 must be interpreted as meaning that the tax authorities of a Member State may not derogate from the provisions of Article 5(1) of that regulation where such a right has not been granted to them by a legislative measure within the meaning of Article 23(1) thereof.

3.    The provisions of Regulation 2016/679 must be interpreted as not precluding the tax authorities of a Member State from requiring a provider of internet advertisement services to disclose to them information relating to taxpayers who have published advertisements in one of the sections of their internet portal, provided, in particular, that those data are necessary in the light of the specific purposes for which they are collected and that the period to which the data collection relates does not exceed the period strictly necessary to achieve the objective of general interest sought.

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