Multinational companies targeting consumers in other EU member states may have to comply with data protection laws in each of those states, following a landmark European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling on data protection.
A Slovakian company advertised properties in Hungary and forwarded the personal data of non-paying advertisers to debt collection agencies. The Hungarian data protection authorities imposed a fine, which the firm refused to pay as they were registered in Slovakia. However, the ECJ held, in Weltimmo (Case C-230/14), that data protection legislation may be applied to a foreign company.
