// Netherlands · Right to be forgotten
Real estate entrepreneur's bid to scrub criminal records from Google search fails
Gerechtshof Den Haag ·
ECLI:NL:GHDHA:2019:3539
The case
A real estate entrepreneur requested Google to remove 36 search results linking him to housing sector problems, including criminal convictions and administrative sanctions. The Court of Appeal of The Hague denied the request because the public interest in information about slumlords outweighs the entrepreneur's privacy interest.
What the court considered
- 01The public interest in information about slumlords and housing market abuses outweighs appellant's privacy interest
- 02As a large-scale landlord, appellant plays a role in public life and must tolerate negative reporting
- 03The information in search results remains current and relevant, despite some specific details potentially being outdated
- 04The findability of information is strictly necessary to protect internet users' freedom of information
- 05Potential tenants have a compelling interest in access to warning information about appellant
What this means in practice
Companies and individuals operating in sectors with public interest impact, such as rental housing, find it more difficult to have negative search results removed. Google and other search engines are not required to automatically remove special categories of personal data, but must conduct a careful balancing test. This ruling demonstrates how the Court of Justice judgment GC/CNIL is applied in Dutch practice, whereby even in the case of special categories of personal data, a strict necessity test is applied instead of automatic removal.
Legal basis
- Artikel 17 AVG (recht op gegevenswissing)
- Artikel 9 AVG (bijzondere categorieën persoonsgegevens)
- Artikel 10 AVG (strafrechtelijke gegevens)
- Artikel 10 EVRM (vrijheid van meningsuiting)
- Artikel 8 EVRM (recht op privéleven)
Related rulings
- French top court: naming person in article on criminal conviction may standFrance · 3 June 2026
- Dutch real estate entrepreneur loses bid to remove criminal conviction article from Google search resultsNetherlands · 28 August 2025
- Google Defeats Legal Firm's Search Ranking Complaint Over Casino TermsNetherlands · 28 May 2025
- Court Denies Wealthy Heir's Bid to Scrub Criminal Past From Google Search ResultsNetherlands · 26 March 2024
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