On January 10, 2025, the Belgian High Court (Hof van Cassatie) upheld the decision of the Market Court in a case that pitched the GDPR right to file a complaint against the general legal principle in Belgian law that prohibits the abuse of law.
In this case, an individual filed a complaint with the Belgian Supervisory Authority against the Ministry of Finance because the Ministry refused to “correct” records that qualified the complainant as a possible front for another entity (a straw man). The Supervisory Authority agreed with the complainant, and the Ministry appealed this decision to the Belgian Market Court.
Before the Market Court, the Ministry argued that the complaint did not relate to the data protection rights of the complainant, but rather was an attempt by the complainant to understand whether there was an ongoing fiscal investigation against her and to have established (by the Supervisory Authority) that she is not a straw man. The Ministry held that the Supervisory Authority should have investigated the complaint on its merits and that the Supervisory Authority was not competent to determine the qualification of the complainant as a possible straw man.
The Market Court agreed with the Ministry and indicated that the Supervisory Authority indeed has an obligation to verify that a complaint does not constitute an abuse of law. The Supervisory Authority must assess the reason behind a complaint and make sure that it relates to a data protection matter and not a broader fiscal dispute.
The complainant appealed against the decision of the Market Court to the High Court, but the High Court upheld the decision of the Market Court.