{"id":6982,"date":"2020-06-03T15:24:21","date_gmt":"2020-06-03T13:24:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/winheller.com\/blog\/en\/?p=6982"},"modified":"2023-05-31T11:21:32","modified_gmt":"2023-05-31T09:21:32","slug":"warnings-gdpr-violations-germany","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/winheller.com\/blog\/en\/warnings-gdpr-violations-germany\/","title":{"rendered":"Companies May Issue Warnings of GDPR Violations in Germany"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/winheller.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/warning-gdpr-company.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-6985\" src=\"https:\/\/winheller.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/warning-gdpr-company.jpg\" alt=\"Companies May Issue Warnings of GDPR Violations in Germany\" width=\"350\" height=\"196\" srcset=\"https:\/\/winheller.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/warning-gdpr-company.jpg 350w, https:\/\/winheller.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/warning-gdpr-company-300x168.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><\/a>Since the entry into force of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winheller.com\/en\/business-law\/privacy-law.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)<\/strong><\/a>, there has been a debate on whether it is possible to issue warnings for GDPR violations under the Unfair Competition Act (UWG). The Stuttgart Higher Regional Court has now decided that the UWG can certainly be used as a basis for warnings.<\/p>\n<h3>Trader did not comply with information duties<\/h3>\n<p>At first instance, a competition association brought an action against a dealer in car parts who sold his goods on eBay. The latter had <strong>failed to inform<\/strong> his customers about the <strong>nature<\/strong>, <strong>scope and purpose of the collection<\/strong> and <strong>use of their personal data<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>This resulted in a warning letter from a competition association, which this association ultimately wanted to enforce by taking legal action before the Regional Court of Stuttgart. Following the dismissal of the action in the first instance, the appeal process now commenced, in which the Higher Regional Court ruled in favor of the plaintiff association.<\/p>\n<h3>Associations are free to choose infringers<\/h3>\n<p>First of all, the Higher Regional Court found that, in contrast to the opinion of the defendant dealer, the competition association was entitled to bring an action and that the action did not constitute an abuse of rights. However, an objection of the defendant that the association brings an action against arbitrarily selected infringers was refuted with the argument that associations are in principle free to take legal action only against certain infringers.<\/p>\n<h3>GDPR specifications in conjunction with the UWG can be used as a warning<\/h3>\n<p>However, the basis for such warnings is decisive. For example, although the previously cited \u00a7 13 of the Telemedia Act is no longer applicable due to the entry into force of the GDPR, Art. 13 of the GDPR now takes precedence. The information required in this article regarding the <strong>processing of personal data within the framework of the internet presence<\/strong> of the car parts dealer had been wrongly omitted on the eBay platform, which could be asserted by way of a warning notice.<\/p>\n<h3>Entrepreneurs must comply with their information duties<\/h3>\n<p>The judgement shows that entrepreneurs should be meticulous in <strong>complying with the information obligations<\/strong> required by the GDPR. An increasing number of higher regional courts are confirming the admissibility of breaches of the GDPR, so that data processing organizations must expect to receive warnings and, in the event of further breaches, even <strong>heavy fines or imprisonment<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Our attorneys for data protection advise you on all questions of data protection and support you in disputes with competitors. Please do not hesitate to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winheller.com\/en\/contactdirections.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>contact us<\/strong><\/a> should you have any questions.<\/p>\n<p>Continue reading:<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/winheller.com\/blog\/en\/first-gdpr-fine-germany\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>First GDPR Fine Imposed in Germany<\/strong><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.winheller.com\/en\/business-law\/privacy-law.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Our services regarding German Privacy Law<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since the entry into force of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), there has been a debate on whether it is possible to issue warnings for GDPR violations under the Unfair Competition Act (UWG). The Stuttgart Higher Regional Court has now [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4817,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1153],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-privacy-law"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/winheller.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/winheller.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/winheller.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/winheller.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/winheller.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6982"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/winheller.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7616,"href":"https:\/\/winheller.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6982\/revisions\/7616"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/winheller.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/winheller.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/winheller.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/winheller.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}