Samenvatting
The case of Ships Waste Oil Collector B.V. and Others v. the Netherlands concerned the transmission of ‘by-catch’ data, lawfully obtained in criminal investigations through telephone tapping, to another law enforcement authority, the Competition Authority, that had used those data in unrelated administrative investigations into the applicant companies’ involvement in price-fixing. In the Chamber judgment the European Court of Human Rights held that there had been:

• by 12 votes to 5, no violation of Article 8 (right to respect for correspondence) of the European Convention on Human Rights in respect of Ships Waste Oil Collector B.V., Burando Holding B.V. and Port Invest B.V.;
• by 10 votes to 7, no violation of Article 8 in respect of Janssen de Jong Groep B.V., Janssen de Jong Infra B.V. and Janssen de Jong Infrastructuur Nederland B.V.; and
• by 15 votes to 2, no violation of Article 13 (right to an effective remedy).

The Court found in particular that the transfers of data had been lawful, the procedural safeguards afforded by the domestic law were sufficient, the Dutch courts had adequately balanced the interests of the applicant companies and those of the State, and that the transfers had been necessary for the enforcement of competition law. The Netherlands had thus acted within their discretion (‘margin of appreciation’).

ECLI:CE:ECHR:2025:0401JUD000279916

Bron: www.hudoc.echr.coe.int