Ruling
Noord-Nederland District Court upholds DPA fine for village livestream, reduces it to 375 euros
- Date
- Status
- status not established
- Body
- Rechtbank Noord-Nederland
- Reference
- ECLI:NL:RBNNE:2025:83 (zaaknummer LEE 22/3460)
- Amount
- €375
What it is about
The court held that the DPA rightly found the livestream processed personal data without a legal basis. Only interests actually pursued and known to data subjects at the time of processing count in the legitimate interest test; interests raised later do not. The processing was not necessary and residents' interests prevailed. Because proceedings took four years and five months, the fine was cut from 500 to 375 euros. The penalty order stands.
What this means in practice
Record and communicate your legitimate interest before you start processing; interests first raised in court do not count. For cameras in public space you must show with concrete data that the purpose cannot be achieved by less intrusive means. Excessively long proceedings reduce the fine, they do not erase the infringement.
The GDPR articles concerned
Source: Rechtspraak.nlchecked on 15 September 2026
Summary and practical reading by Praxikon. Not legal advice; the source prevails.
Connections
What connects to this development
Themes where this returns
The counterpart in the other law
- Article 10 AI Act: Data and data governance
- Article 11 AI Act: Technical documentation
via Keeping records: record of processing, technical documentation and logs
- Article 12 AI Act: Record-keeping
via Keeping records: record of processing, technical documentation and logs
- Article 18 AI Act: Documentation keeping
via Keeping records: record of processing, technical documentation and logs
- Article 19 AI Act: Automatically generated logs
via Keeping records: record of processing, technical documentation and logs
- Article 26 AI Act: Obligations of deployers of high-risk AI systems
via Keeping records: record of processing, technical documentation and logs
Case law8 of 10
- Council of State: 600,000 euro fine for wifi tracking in Enschede stays annulled
2026-07-29 · final, Raad van State, Afdeling bestuursrechtspraak
- Mousse: asking for Mr or Ms when selling a train ticket is not necessary
2025-01-09 · final, Hof van Justitie van de EU (Eerste kamer), Mousse tegen Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés (CNIL) en SNCF Connect
- Overijssel District Court revokes DPA fine for wifi tracking in Enschede
2024-02-02 · final, Rechtbank Overijssel
- Interim relief judge: DPA must redact fine amount when giving an enforcement decision to complainants
2024-05-31 · status not established, Rechtbank Den Haag, voorzieningenrechter (kort geding, team handel)
- EU Court of Justice in KNLTB: a purely commercial interest can be a legitimate interest
2024-10-04 · final, Hof van Justitie van de Europese Unie
- Schrems v Meta: no unlimited retention and aggregation of data for targeted advertising
2024-10-04 · final, Hof van Justitie van de EU (Vierde kamer), Maximilian Schrems tegen Meta Platforms Ireland Limited
- Gelderland District Court: bankruptcy trustee is controller, DPA fine for unsecured hard drive cut to 58,125 euros
2025-08-07 · status not established, Rechtbank Gelderland
- Meta v Bundeskartellamt: competition authority may find a GDPR breach, strict conditions for legal bases behind personalised advertising
2023-07-04 · final, Hof van Justitie van de EU (Grote kamer), Meta Platforms Inc., Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd en Facebook Deutschland GmbH tegen Bundeskartellamt
Guidelines8 of 11
- Opinion 28/2024 on certain data protection aspects related to the processing of personal data in the context of AI models
2024-12-17 · final, European Data Protection Board (EDPB)
- Guidelines 03/2026 on web scraping in the context of generative AI
2026-07-07 · under consultation, European Data Protection Board (EDPB)
- Guidelines 1/2024 on processing of personal data based on Article 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interest)
2024-10-08 · adopted, European Data Protection Board (EDPB)
- Guidelines 02/2026 on Anonymisation
2026-07-07 · under consultation, European Data Protection Board (EDPB)
- Guidelines 4/2019 on Article 25 Data Protection by Design and by Default
2020-10-20 · final, European Data Protection Board (EDPB)
- Guidelines 05/2020 on consent under Regulation 2016/679
2020-05-04 · final, European Data Protection Board (EDPB)
- Guidelines 02/2025 on processing of personal data through blockchain technologies
2026-07-07 · final, European Data Protection Board (EDPB)
- Guidelines 1/2026 on processing of personal data for scientific research purposes
2026-04-15 · adopted, European Data Protection Board (EDPB)
Enforcement and fines8 of 11
- Dutch DPA and tennis federation KNLTB end litigation: fine cut from 525,000 to at most 250,000 euros
2025-10-18 · status not established, Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens
- 600,000 euro fine for AS Watson (Kruidvat) over tracking cookies without consent
2024-05-02 · annulled, Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens
- 500 euro fine and penalty order for Stichting Oud Lemmer over webcam livestream
2021-07-09 · status not established, Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens
- DPA cuts Kruidvat fine to 50,000 euros on objection
2025-05-27 · status not established, Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens
- Ten municipalities fined a total of 250,000 euros for unlawful files on Muslim residents
2026-02-03 · final, Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens
- Experian Netherlands fined 2.7 million euros for credit scoring without legal basis or information
2025-10-16 · final, Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens
- Coolblue fined 40,000 euros on objection for cookies without consent
2024-12-23 · status not established, Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens
- 100 million euro fine for MLU B.V. (Yango) for transfers to Russia
2026-04-01 · status not established, Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens
Legislation in motion6 of 7
- Proposal: definition of scientific research, purpose limitation and information duty for research (Article 4(38), 5(1)(b) and 13(5) GDPR)
2025-11-19 · under negotiation, Europese Commissie
- Proposal: exception for biometric verification under the data subject's sole control (Article 9(2)(l) GDPR)
2025-11-19 · proposal, Europese Commissie
- Proposal: legitimate interest for development and operation of AI (new Article 88c GDPR)
2025-11-19 · proposal, Europese Commissie
- Council: Irish Presidency continues with a revised compromise, Antici Group 11 September 2026
2026-09-11 · under negotiation, Raad van de Europese Unie, Iers voorzitterschap
- Proposal: cookie rules move from ePrivacy to the GDPR, with new exceptions and a six-month rule (new Article 88a GDPR and Article 5(3) ePrivacy)
2025-11-19 · under negotiation, Europese Commissie
- Council: Cyprus Presidency tables negotiating mandate, Coreper vote of 26 June 2026 cancelled
2026-06-22 · under negotiation, Raad van de Europese Unie, Antici-groep (vereenvoudiging) en Coreper