Action brought on 18 August 2020 – Kočner v Europol
(Case T-528/20)
Language of the case: Slovak
Parties
Applicant: Marián Kočner (Bratislava, Slovakia) (represented by: M. Mandzák and M. Para, lawyers)
Defendant: European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol)
Form of order sought
The applicant claims that the General Court should:
order the defendant to pay the applicant the sum of EUR 100 000, and
order the defendant to pay the costs of the proceedings.
Pleas in law and main arguments
The subject matter of the action is an application under Article 268 TFEU for the award of compensation on the basis of non-contractual liability, in respect of damage caused to the applicant by two harmful events. According to the applicant, the first harmful event consists in the defendant’s processing of the applicant’s personal data without the agreement of a court or independent administrative authority by means of the acquisition and extraction of data from mobile telephones, and also in data leakage from the defendant’s premises (harmful event no. 1). The second harmful event is alleged to consist in the fact that the defendant compiled an official report in which it stated that the applicant is included in the so-called ‘Mafia listsʼ (harmful event number 2).
In support of the action, the applicant relies on two pleas in law.
The first plea in law alleges unlawful conduct of the defendant consisting in the leakage of the applicant’s personal data from the defendant’ holding of it, which is the defendant’s responsibility under Article 38(7) of Regulation No 2016/794. 1 The data leakage from secure mobile telephones infringed rights protected under the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the applicant incurred non-material harm causally related to harmful event no. 1, assessed by the applicant at EUR 50 000 in respect of that harmful event.
The second plea in law is based on the applicant’s classification in the so-called ‘Mafia lists’, those lists not being governed by any legal provision, whether at the level of EU law or the level of national law, by the Slovak Republic or [another] EU Member State, and that classification of the applicant is an express infringement consisting in the unlawful processing of personal data. Those lists manifestly infringe rights protected by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, having regard to the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union and of the European Court of Human Rights. The applicant alleges that he incurred damage causally related to harmful event no. 2, which he assesses at EUR 50 000.
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1 Regulation (EU) 2016/794 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2016 on the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) and replacing and repealing Council Decisions 2009/371/JHA, 2009/934/JHA, 2009/935/JHA, 2009/936/JHA and 2009/968/JHA (OJ L 135, 24.5.2016, p. 53).