The Dutch privacy watchdog AP is being too strict in its interpretation of EU privacy regulations and a commercial interest can be a reason to sell personal data, the European Court of Justice has said.

The case dates back to 2020 when the Dutch lawn tennis association sold private information about 350,000 members to two sponsors, resulting in a €525,000 fine from the AP.

But the AP’s interpretation of the law is too strict, the Financieele Dagblad quoted the court as saying, in a move which experts say could have major consequences for how companies and associations deal with member and customer information.

The lawn tennis association argued that it had a “legitimate interest” in selling the information to third parties without the explicit permission of its members, who had complained about being bombarded with emails and phone calls from commercial companies.

The AP, however, argued that “direct marketing can never be a legitimate interest”. The watchdog has not yet commented on the European court ruling, the FD said.   

The European court judgment will now be used by Amsterdam’s appeal court for a definitive ruling in the case brought by the tennis association against the AP.