The advocate general for the European Court of Justice, Maciej Szpunar, has supported Google in its row with the European Union over the bloc's "right to be forgotten," saying that the regulation must be implemented only within the bloc, the court said in a statement on Thursday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th January, 2019) The advocate general for the European Court of Justice, Maciej Szpunar, has supported Google in its row with the European Union over the bloc's "right to be forgotten," saying that the regulation must be implemented only within the bloc, the court said in a statement on Thursday.Google and the French National Commission on Informatics and Liberty (CNIL) are engaged in a dispute over whether the EU law on the right to delete the information of person doing an internet search should be applied globally.
"He [Szpunar] therefore takes the view that a distinction must be made depending on the location from which the search is performed. Thus, search requests made outside the EU should not be affected by the de-referencing of the search results. He is therefore not in favour of giving the provisions of EU law such a broad interpretation that they would have effects beyond the borders of the 28 Member States," the statement said.
At the same time, the legal adviser pointed out the need for search engine operators to ensure that the so-called right to be forgotten is implemented if engine search requests are made from within the European Union.
"However, the Advocate General underlines that, once a right to de-referencing within the EU has been established, the search engine operator must take every measure available to it to ensure full and effective de-referencing within the EU, including by use of the 'geo-blocking' technique, in respect of an IP address deemed to be located in one of the Member States, irrespective of the domain name used by the internet user who performs the search," the statement noted.
Szpunar also said that the "right to be forgotten" must be balanced against other fundamental rights and freedoms such as the right to data protection, privacy as well as public interest in access to certain information.
The recommendations issued by the top legal adviser are non-binding, and the final verdict on the case is expected to be adopted later this year.
