The House of Data Imperiali bulletins are extracts from the articles of the Legal Information Service (SIG) edited by Mr. Rosario Imperiali d’Afflitto.

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Fundamental rights and freedoms – 3

In previous bulletins we noted how, for EU law, not only the right to personal data protection is a fundamental right but also we observed the importance of additional fundamental rights for the data protection discipline (see bulletin of 6/10/2022). Then, we examined the legal framework of fundamental rights on four levels: national, European Union, Council of Europe and United Nations (see bulletin of 10/20/2022).
 
In this last bulletin, we will focus on the essential conditions for a limitation to fundamental rights and freedoms, including the protection of personal data, to be legitimate.

Limitations on fundamental rights

Limitations_on_fundamental_rights_GDPR_ECHR_Charter
Figure – Conditions for limitations to fundamental rights in ECHR, Charter, 108+ and GDPR.

Article 52 of the Charter indicates the conditions for possible limitations on the exercise of the rights and freedoms recognized therein(See Article 52(1), Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (2000/C 364/01).). These limitations are permissible under the following conditions:

  1. They must be provided for by law (rule of law)
  2. They must respect the essential content of the rights and freedoms subject to limitation
  3. The limitations must be necessary and effectively respond to purposes of general interest recognized by the Union or
  4. They must respond to the need to protect the rights and freedoms of others.

These conditions – which, moreover, are quite similar to those provided by the ECHR for limitations on the right to privacy (Article 8, ECHR) – have been elaborated and interpreted by the case law of the CJEU.