Google v. CNIL Advocate General’s Opinion

Summary

In May 2015, CNIL required Google to apply right-to-be-forgotten requests to all search engine domains. Google complied partially, leading to CNIL’s penalty in March 2016. Google appealed to annul the penalty, leading to a referral to the Court of Justice by the Conseil d’État. Advocate General Szpunar’s opinion proposes limits on the territorial scope of search engine operators’ obligations regarding the right to be forgotten under EU law. He argues that de-referencing of search results should not apply globally but should be limited to EU domain extensions. Szpunar emphasizes the need to balance the right to be forgotten with other fundamental rights and the varying public interests across jurisdictions. While acknowledging potential global obligations in exceptional cases, he asserts that in this instance, EU authorities cannot extend their jurisdiction beyond EU borders. He recommends that, within the EU, search engines must implement effective de-referencing measures, including geo-blocking, regardless of the domain used by the searcher.