Assessing the contribution of the CJEU to developing the EU fundamental right to protection of personal data

The goal of the present dissertation was to investigate what is the fundamental right to protection of personal data. In the EU, this right gained prominence in the last decade especially. It was the cause of the pivotal legislative changes (i.e. GDPR) as well as the seminal decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) invalidating both the EU legislative instruments and international agreements on data transfers. Judgments such as Digital Rights Ireland, Tele2 Sverige, Schrems II, Privacy International, La Quadrature du Net, as well as Opinion 1/15 have demonstrated the importance of the right to data protection. Despite the visible prominence, little consensus is found regarding its scope and limits. This research was designed in a doctrinal methodological framework. The focus of the research was to analyze the meanings of the right as provided by the CJEU and in scholarly opinions. The scholarly works analyzed include close to 150 publications, while the cases considered account for 51 judgments of the CJEU. The primary aim of close reading of this case law and sources is to provide a thorough examination of the structural aspects of the fundamental right to protection of personal data. The results support the persisting lack of consensus, but they also show that sufficient material was produced to sketch out individual characteristics of the right. Regarding the scope of the right, the prevailing approach instructs that the states discharge their positive obligations towards data protection adequately by putting in a legislative framework. Ultimately, this understanding shifts the focus of any inquiry on the adequacy of protection to an analysis of whether the provisions limiting or removing data protection safeguards are justifiable under Article 52(1) of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (CFREU). While the CJEU has not fully entered the unknown terrain of determining permissible limitations distinctively for Article 8 CFREU, the present dissertation analyses the most important findings in that regard thus far. Overall, the study contributes to the literature on the general CFREU doctrine on the example of the right to protection of personal data. It provides a theoretical perspective on recent developments in the data protection field suggesting it is likely to be further amplified in practice and scholarship.