Nonmaterial Damages for GDPR Infringements After the Austria Post Judgment

This chapter reviews the judgment of the European Court of Justice on whether Austria Post was required to pay compensation for nonmaterial damages under Article 82(1) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Departing from the Advocate General’s Opinion and adopting a broader, data-subject-friendly approach, the Court dismissed the requirement of a de minimis threshold for the damage to confer a right to compensation but failed to provide concrete guidelines for the assessment to national judges. This chapter argues that the judgment will have an impact on national litigation and on the pending requests for preliminary rulings. The road to class action litigation under the Collective Redress Directive remains, however, long and winding.