Question

why Google refuse to comply with CJEU?

Answer 1

In 2015, the French Data Protection Authority (CNIL) released a formal notice to Google requiring it to make demands for de-referencing on all its domains worldwide, not just its French domain google.fr or the domains of EU Member States. Google argued that this was not necessary by EU law and refused to comply with the notice. The matter was escalated to the CJEU when Google was fined for its failure to comply.

The CJEU held that de-referencing of the search engine does not involve de-referencing on all domains of the search engine worldwide in compliance with a request for 'right to be forgotten' under EU law. It was found that EU law merely requires de-referencing on domains of Member States using sufficient technological means to seriously prevent EU residents from accessing the de-referenced search results.

Not many noted, but the CJEU went further to note that EU law in fact does not preclude de-referencing worldwide. As such, Member States' courts or data protection authorities may require de-referencing worldwide when circumstances require it to safeguard the balance between freedom of information and the right to privacy. Essentially, though, the top court in Europe accepted Member States' extraterritorial implementation of de-referencing under their own domestic laws, rather than EU law. Although, the Court also acknowledged that EU law could be amended in the future to require all EU Member States to de-referenced globally.