Opinion AG in the case Heinz Huber v. Germany, C-524/06 of 3 April 2008

Storage of data on EU citizens in the German central register on foreigners («AZR») incompatible with the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of nationality in so far as it includes data beyond those specified in Article 8(3) of Directive 2004/38/EC and incompatible with the requirement of necessity under Article 7 (e) EC Directive 95/46 on data protection.

The AG Maduro proposes that the Court give the following answers to the questions referred by the Oberverwaltungsgericht für das Land Nordrhein-Westfalen:

(1) A system of data storage and processing such as the one at issue in the main proceedings is incompatible with the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of nationality in so far as it includes data beyond those specified in Article 8(3) of Directive 2004/38/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States and is accessible by public authorities other than the immigration authority. The centralised processing of personal data applicable only to citizens of other Member States will also be incompatible with the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of nationality if there are other effective ways for enforcing immigration and residence status rules, that being for the national court to assess.

(2) A system of data storage and processing such as the one at issue in the main proceedings is incompatible with the requirement of necessity under Article 7(e) of Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data in so far as it includes data beyond those specified in Article 8(3) of Directive 2004/38 and is accessible by public authorities other than the immigration authorities. The centralised processing of personal data applicable only to citizens of other Member States will also be incompatible with the requirement of necessity under Article 7(e) of Directive 95/46, unless it can be demonstrated that there is no other way of enforcing immigration and residence status rules, that being for the national court to assess.

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