The compensation of non-pecuniary loss in GDPR infringement cases

Abstract

Article 82 (1) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) provides that any ‘person who has suffered material or non-material damage as a result of an infringement of this Regulation shall have the right to receive compensation from the controller or processor for the damage suffered’. This paper aims to assess to what extent the compensation of ‘non material damage’ can be an effective means to ensure legal protection in the field of data protection, despite persistent discrepancies between national civil liability rules.