On Thursday 9 November, the Court of Justice of the EU handed down a judgment in which it ruled that vehicle manufacturers are obliged to make vehicle identification numbers available to independent operators and that this does not contravene the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (Case C-319/22).
The matter was referred to the Court by a German court, which in turn had been asked to rule by a trade association for the independent motor parts trade. The latter considered that the content of the information provided by the HGV manufacturer Scania to its members did not meet the obligations to make accessible the information necessary for the repair and maintenance of the vehicles they manufacture.
The German court wanted to know whether this obligation was compatible with the GDPR, given that a vehicle identification number also makes it possible to identify the owner of the vehicle, and could therefore have constituted personal data.
In response, the Court states that it must be possible to search for information in the databases - which manufacturers are obliged to maintain - using vehicle identification numbers and other criteria, such as engine power or type of vehicle finish, and that vehicle identification numbers must appear in the database. The Court ruled that “that number, taken as such, is not personal in nature”.
In addition, the Court points out, the identification number is also included in the registration certificate.
“Even where vehicle identification numbers are to be classified as personal data, the General Data Protection Regulation does not preclude car manufacturers from being obliged to make them available to independent operators”, concludes the Court.
See the judgment: https://aeur.eu/f/9hl (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)