Opinion of the Advocate General in the case C-252/21 Meta Platforms and Others (Conditions générales d’utilisation d’un réseau social)

29 settembre 2022

On September 20,2022, Advocate General Athanasios Rantos of the Court of Justice of EU issued his opinion

Opinion C-252/21 | Meta Platforms and Others (General terms of use of a social network) and affirmed that a competition authority may, in exercising its powers, take account of the compatibility of a commercial practice with the General Data Protection Regulation.

In his Opinion , Advocate General Athanasios Rantos, first, takes the view that, while a competition authority does not have jurisdiction to rule on an infringement of the GDPR, it may nevertheless, in the exercise of its own powers, take account of the compatibility of a commercial practice with the GDPR. In that respect, the Advocate General emphasises that the compliance or non-compliance of that conduct with the provisions of the GDPR may, in the light of all the circumstances of the case, be an important indication of whether that conduct amounts to a breach of competition rules.

However, the Advocate General points out that a competition authority can only assess compliance with the GDPR as an incidental question, without prejudice to the powers of the competent supervisory authority under that regulation. Therefore, the competition authority must take account of any decision or investigation by the competent supervisory authority, inform the latter of any relevant details and, where appropriate, consult it.

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