Artículo 3 📖 RGPD. Ámbito territorial

Artículo 3 RGPD. Ámbito territorial

1. El presente Reglamento se aplica al tratamiento de datos personales en el contexto de las actividades de un establecimiento del responsable o del encargado en la Unión, independientemente de que el tratamiento tenga lugar en la Unión o no.

Ley de Directrices y caso Considerandos Textos enlazados

Ley de Directrices y caso

(EN)

Documents

WP29, Update of Opinion on applicable law in light of the CJEU judgement in Google Spain (2010).

Case Law

CJEU, Google Spain SL/Agencia española de protección de datos, C-131/12 (2014):

55. In the light of that objective of Directive 95/46 and of the wording of Article 4(1)(a), it must be held that the processing of personal data for the purposes of the service of a search engine such as Google Search, which is operated by an undertaking that has its seat in a third State but has an establishment in a Member State, is carried out ‘in the context of the activities’ of that establishment if the latter is intended to promote and sell, in that Member State, advertising space offered by the search engine which serves to make the service offered by that engine profitable.

56. In such circumstances, the activities of the operator of the search engine and those of its establishment situated in the Member State concerned are inextricably linked since the activities relating to the advertising space constitute the means of rendering the search engine at issue economically profitable and that engine is, at the same time, the means enabling those activities to be performed. (page 14)

CJEU, Unabhängiges Landeszentrum für Datenschutz Schleswig-Holstein/Wirtschaftsakademie Schleswig-Holstein GmbH, C-210/16 (2018):

… where an undertaking established outside the European Union has several establishments in different Member States, the supervisory authority of a Member State is entitled to exercise the powers conferred on it by Article 28(3) of that directive with respect to an establishment of that undertaking situated in the territory of that Member State even if, as a result of the division of tasks within the group, first, that establishment is responsible solely for the sale of advertising space and other marketing activities in the territory of that Member State and, second, exclusive responsibility for collecting and processing personal data belongs, for the entire territory of the European Union, to an establishment situated in another Member State. (page 14)

Considerandos

(22) Todo tratamiento de datos personales en el contexto de las actividades de un establecimiento de un responsable o un encargado del tratamiento en la Unión debe llevarse a cabo de conformidad con el presente Reglamento, independientemente de que el tratamiento tenga lugar en la Unión. Un establecimiento implica el ejercicio de manera efectiva y real de una actividad a través de modalidades estables. La forma jurídica que revistan tales modalidades, ya sea una sucursal o una filial con personalidad jurídica, no es el factor determinante al respecto.

(14) La protección otorgada por el presente Reglamento debe aplicarse a las personas físicas, independientemente de su nacionalidad o de su lugar de residencia, en relación con el tratamiento de sus datos personales. El presente Reglamento no regula el tratamiento de datos personales relativos a personas jurídicas y en particular a empresas constituidas como personas jurídicas, incluido el nombre y la forma de la persona jurídica y sus datos de contacto.

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2. El presente Reglamento se aplica al tratamiento de datos personales de interesados que residan en la Unión por parte de un responsable o encargado no establecido en la Unión, cuando las actividades de tratamiento estén relacionadas con:

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a) la oferta de bienes o servicios a dichos interesados en la Unión, independientemente de si a estos se les requiere su pago, o

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Considerandos

(23) Con el fin de garantizar que las personas físicas no se vean privadas de la protección a la que tienen derecho en virtud del presente Reglamento, el tratamiento de datos personales de interesados que residen en la Unión por un responsable o un encargado no establecido en la Unión debe regirse por el presente Reglamento si las actividades de tratamiento se refieren a la oferta de bienes o servicios a dichos interesados, independientemente de que medie pago. Para determinar si dicho responsable o encargado ofrece bienes o servicios a interesados que residan en la Unión, debe determinarse si es evidente que el responsable o el encargado proyecta ofrecer servicios a interesados en uno o varios de los Estados miembros de la Unión. Si bien la mera accesibilidad del sitio web del responsable o encargado o de un intermediario en la Unión, de una dirección de correo electrónico u otros datos de contacto, o el uso de una lengua generalmente utilizada en el tercer país donde resida el responsable del tratamiento, no basta para determinar dicha intención, hay factores, como el uso de una lengua o una moneda utilizada generalmente en uno o varios Estados miembros con la posibilidad de encargar bienes y servicios en esa otra lengua, o la mención de clientes o usuarios que residen en la Unión, que pueden revelar que el responsable del tratamiento proyecta ofrecer bienes o servicios a interesados en la Unión.

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b) el control de su comportamiento, en la medida en que este tenga lugar en la Unión.

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Considerandos

(24) El tratamiento de datos personales de los interesados que residen en la Unión por un responsable o encargado no establecido en la Unión debe ser también objeto del presente Reglamento cuando esté relacionado con la observación del comportamiento de dichos interesados en la medida en que este comportamiento tenga lugar en la Unión. Para determinar si se puede considerar que una actividad de tratamiento controla el comportamiento de los interesados, debe evaluarse si las personas físicas son objeto de un seguimiento en internet, inclusive el potencial uso posterior de técnicas de tratamiento de datos personales que consistan en la elaboración de un perfil de una persona física con el fin, en particular, de adoptar decisiones sobre él o de analizar o predecir sus preferencias personales, comportamientos y actitudes.

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3. El presente Reglamento se aplica al tratamiento de datos personales por parte de un responsable que no esté establecido en la Unión sino en un lugar en que el Derecho de los Estados miembros sea de aplicación en virtud del Derecho internacional público.

Considerandos

(25) Cuando sea de aplicación el Derecho de los Estados miembros en virtud del Derecho internacional público, el presente Reglamento debe aplicarse también a todo responsable del tratamiento no establecido en la Unión, como en una misión diplomática u oficina consular de un Estado miembro.

Reglamento general de protección de datos (RGPD)

Comentario de expertos Considerandos Ley de Directrices y caso Deja un comentario

Comentario de expertos

(EN) One of the most frequent questions asked is whether a company falls within the scope of the GDPR. It relates, among other things, to the definition of the European regulation’s territorial scope.

Here you can find a little self-assessment test:

Does the GDPR apply in these cases?

A Russian mobile application processes the geolocation data of Russian and foreign nationals in the EU.
A Belarusian dating site collects contact information from all its users. Americans and Europeans who come to Belarus and want to meet local women can also register on the site.
An Italian chain has opened a new hotel in Kyiv, where both Europeans and citizens of other countries stay. Guests registration is carried out on the Italian site, and data are processed in the head office of the management company in Italy.
An American training platform uses personal data to sell online courses around the world.
EU nationals, who are on vacation in India, came to an Austrian airline’s local office in Mumbai to fly to Bali for a couple of days. For this purpose, their passport information and bank card data were collected, as well as the information that the passengers are vegetarians.
EU users visit the site of a company from Rostov-on-Don 2-3 times a month and order flower deliveries in the city for their loved ones. The site is in Russian. Deliveries are only in Rostov. The currency of payment is the Russian ruble.

If you doubt the answers, go on reading and you will find the detailed analysis in the video lesson at the bottom of this article (in Russian).

Here are three cases, which show when it is necessary to observe the GDPR:

When data are processed in the context of the activities of an establishment in the EU. In other words, if the office is physically located in any of the EU countries and the data are processed in that office, the GDPR applies. Thus, the correct answer to the third question concerning the Italian hotel is affirmative, i.e. it is necessary to comply with the GDPR.

By the way, this paragraph does not apply only to a physical office or a registered legal entity. There are many other unobvious examples of what should be considered as the “context of the activities of an establishment”. We describe them in detail in the video.

When the data subject is in the EU and the processing relates to the supply of goods and services. In this case, “data subject” does not refer only to European citizens, but also to people from other countries who are passing through, traveling, or staying temporary in Europe. At the same time, the goods and services do not necessarily have to be paid for. For example, a free mobile app that you have downloaded.

Therefore, if, for example, a Russian citizen, being in Latvia, has used a Russian mobile application, she or he is protected by the GDPR. So the correct answer to the first question is affirmative, i.e. it is necessary to comply with the GDPR.

By the way, according to this paragraph, the GDPR also applies to other cases, which we have mentioned at the beginning of this article. For instance, in the second case, the Belarusian dating site provides a service to European citizens, as well as the American platform from the fourth case.

In comparison, in the fifth case concerning the purchase of tickets to Bali, the GDPR is not applicable, as these people have left the EU and are buying tickets in the office in India.

Do you know why in the sixth case concerning the flower delivery the GDPR does not apply, although the data of European citizens are processed? The reason is that the exception described in the recitals of the Regulation is based on a specific judicial precedent.

For more details on these recitals and court precedent, please see our video lesson.

When you monitor behaviour within the EU. These situations are rare. And that rule does not apply to any of the cases from this article. More detailed information can be found in the video.

We hope that the information was helpful. Share it with your colleagues and make sure to see our detailed video lesson below in which you will find:

A detailed explanation of the diagram “the territorial scope of the GDPR”;
Explanation of articles, recitals, judicial precedents, and clarification by the supervisory authority;
Further examples and cases from practice;
Detailed case analysis from this article.

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