General Data Protection Regulation

Article 85

Processing and freedom of expression and information

1. Member States shall by law reconcile the right to the protection of personal data pursuant to this Regulation with the right to freedom of expression and information, including processing for journalistic purposes and the purposes of academic, artistic or literary expression.

2. For processing carried out for journalistic purposes or the purpose of academic artistic or literary expression, Member States shall provide for exemptions or derogations from Chapter II (principles), Chapter III (rights of the data subject), Chapter IV (controller and processor), Chapter V (transfer of personal data to third countries or international organisations), Chapter VI (independent supervisory authorities), Chapter VII (cooperation and consistency) and Chapter IX (specific data processing situations) if they are necessary to reconcile the right to the protection of personal data with the freedom of expression and information.

3. Each Member State shall notify to the Commission the provisions of its law which it has adopted pursuant to paragraph 2 and, without delay, any subsequent amendment law or amendment affecting them.

Holdings

C-199/249 Jul 2026

ND v Legal Newsdesk Sweden AB, anciennement Garrapatica AB

1. Article 85(1) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation),

must be interpreted as precluding Member States from adopting, on the basis of that provision, legislative measures going beyond what is provided for under Article 85(2) of that regulation, in so far as they introduce derogations from certain chapters of that regulation in respect of the processing of personal data for purposes other than journalistic purposes or the purposes of academic, artistic or literary expression, on the ground that those measures are necessary to reconcile the right to protection of personal data with the right to freedom of expression and information.

C-199/249 Jul 2026

ND v Legal Newsdesk Sweden AB, anciennement Garrapatica AB

2. Article 85(1) of Regulation 2016/679

must be interpreted as precluding the measures adopted by the Member States on its basis from providing, in so far as they give specific expression to the reconciliation which the Member States must carry out between the right to the protection of personal data and the right to freedom of expression and information, that the only legal remedies available to a person who has been convicted of criminal offences, where the personal data on those criminal convictions are made available to the public on the internet, in return for payment, are the possibility to bring criminal proceedings for defamation or to bring an action for compensation for the damage suffered as a result of having been defamed.

C-199/249 Jul 2026

ND v Legal Newsdesk Sweden AB, anciennement Garrapatica AB

3. Article 85(2) of Regulation 2016/679

must be interpreted as meaning that making available to the public on the internet, in return for payment, public documents consisting of criminal convictions cannot be regarded as processing of personal data carried out for 'journalistic purposes', within the meaning of that provision, unless it has as its purpose the disclosure to the public of information, opinions or ideas, in compliance with the ethical rules and codes of conduct of the profession of journalist, after editing or adaptation, or at least in accordance with an editorial policy, and after verification of the factual allegations concerned.