From Principle to Practice: The EU-Wide Implementation Challenges of the “Right to Be Forgotten” Following Google v CNIL

Abstract

While scholarly attention largely gravitates towards the debate on regional versus global delisting under EU law, this paper scrutinizes the Google v CNIL ruling concerning the conditions and methods of EU-wide delisting in light of the preliminary reference questions posed. The focus lies in the intricate analysis absent from the dispositif, which leaves many complexities to the evaluation of the national data protection authorities and the courts, and, concerningly, to the solely discretion of the search engine operators. Nuanced analyses absent from the dispositif address the crucial aspects in defining the territorial scope such as the role of geo-blocking, the possible public interest variations within the EU and the regulatory cooperation frameworks, particularly in light of Google’s standard delisting procedure. Furthermore, the research highlights the concerns about the varying levels of protection for EU citizens, contrasting the delisting procedure before the search engine operator and the formal proceedings involving the data protection authorities and the courts. By exploring a significant decision by the Belgian data protection authority, the author illustrates the possibilities for regulatory cooperation to achieve a cohesive and comprehensive approach to EU-wide delisting. The author advocates for regulatory transparency in this legal area and explicit guidance from the European Data Protection Board toward ensuring that the “right to be forgotten” is applied consistently and in a manner that genuinely protects individuals’ rights across the EU.