Recital 153

Recital 153

General Data Protection Regulation · UE 2016/679

(153)

Member States law should reconcile the rules governing freedom of expression and information, including journalistic, academic, artistic and or literary expression with the right to the protection of personal data pursuant to this Regulation. The processing of personal data solely for journalistic purposes, or for the purposes of academic, artistic or literary expression should be subject to derogations or exemptions from certain provisions of this Regulation if necessary to reconcile the right to the protection of personal data with the right to freedom of expression and information, as enshrined in Article 11 of the Charter. This should apply in particular to the processing of personal data in the audiovisual field and in news archives and press libraries. Therefore, Member States should adopt legislative measures which lay down the exemptions and derogations necessary for the purpose of balancing those fundamental rights. Member States should adopt such exemptions and derogations on general principles, the rights of the data subject, the controller and the processor, the transfer of personal data to third countries or international organisations, the independent supervisory authorities, cooperation and consistency, and specific data-processing situations. Where such exemptions or derogations differ from one Member State to another, the law of the Member State to which the controller is subject should apply. In order to take account of the importance of the right to freedom of expression in every democratic society, it is necessary to interpret notions relating to that freedom, such as journalism, broadly.

Luxembourg specificity
loi luxembourgeoise du 1er aout 2018 portant organisation de la Commission nationale pour la protection des donnees

In Luxembourg, Article 62 of the law of 1 August 2018 establishing the CNPD implements Article 85 GDPR and sets the derogations applicable to processing for journalistic, academic, artistic or literary purposes. The law disapplies several GDPR chapters (principles, data subject rights, third country transfers, cooperation) for these purposes, subject to balancing against freedom of expression guaranteed by Article 24 of the Constitution. The CNPD remains competent but cannot compel journalists to reveal their sources.

Luxgap practice: our teams configure Editorial Shield with the Luxembourg-specific grid (Article 62 of the 2018 law + Cour superieure de justice case law) rather than the French 1881 law grid, avoiding common false positives among Luxembourg press publishers.