Court of Justice 17 December 2020, C-439/19 (Proceedings brought by B.)

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In this Opinion delivered on 17 December 2020 in Case C-439/19, Advocate General Szpunar opines that penalty points recorded against drivers for road traffic offences under Latvian law do not constitute personal data relating to 'criminal convictions and offences' within the meaning of Article 10 GDPR, as such offences are administrative rather than criminal in nature under the applicable Engel criteria. The AG further opines that Article 5(1)(c) GDPR (data minimisation) precludes national legislation such as Article 141(2) of the Latvian Law on motoring (Ceļu satiksmes likums), which makes penalty point information publicly available and permits its re-use by commercial operators, as such measures are disproportionate to the road safety objective pursued. Directive 2003/98/EC on the re-use of public sector information is held inapplicable by virtue of its Article 1(2)(cc) exclusion for personal data, and the AG opines that the temporal effects of any incompatible national provision cannot be maintained pending a final constitutional ruling, as only the Court of Justice may limit the ex tunc effects of its preliminary rulings.AI