Journalistic Exemption under the European Data Protection Law

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to understand the approaches taken by the EU Member States to implement Article 85 of the General Data Protection Regulation ("journalistic exemption") in the national legal frameworks and to critically assess these approaches against the freedom of expression and data protection standards developed on the European level. The paper also analyzes practical implications of a "journalistic exemption" clause for journalists, media undertakings and anyone who exercises freedom of expression for journalistic purposes.

The research results in the conclusion that there are fundamental differences in how the Member States approach the definition and scope of the “journalistic exemption” across three dimensions (i) who can rely on the exemption or, in other words, what is its personal scope, (ii) what activities are exempted or what is the material scope, and (iii) which rules do not apply as a result of the exemption or the nature of the derogations.

Keywords: journalism, data protection, privacy, ECtHR, CJEU, GDPR, media, law, exemption