The European Court of Justice ruled on the question which Member State’s data protection laws should apply

As already published the European Court of Justice had to clarify which Member State’s data protection laws should apply to data processing established within the EU but directed at a number of EU Member States.

Yesterday, the European Court of Justice ruled in the case VKI v. Amazon EU that “ (…) the processing of data (…) is governed by the law of the Member State in whose territory that establishment is situated.”

However, the European Court of Justice did not discuss the respective contract between Amazon and its customers stating that “Luxembourg law shall apply.”

Nevertheless, the European Court of Justice came to the conclusion that “It is for the national court to determine (…) whether Amazon EU carries out the data processing in question in the context of the activities of an establishment situated in a Member State other than Luxembourg.”