Ersättning för ideell skada enligt GDPR : En undersökning av artikel 82 i en svensk kontext

Sammanfattning: The new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) imposes new challenges for both authorities and private actors in ensuring the protection of individuals personal data. With stricter rules comes more responsibility and the risk offacing a civil action for damages. Article 82 in GDPR gives the data subject aright to receive compensation from the controller or processor for any material or non-material damage suffered as a result of an infringement of the regula-tion. The study examines what could constitute a compensable non-material damage and how the compensation could be determined according to Swedish law and EU-law. This is done through the legal dogmatic method. The study finds that a lot of discretion is left up to the member states themselves when it comes to assessing damage. However, “damage” is to be interpreted accordingto the principles laid down by the European Court of Justice and the member states also need to take into account the principles of equivalence and effectiveness. The data subject also has the right to full compensation for the damage suffered and the compensation needs to be proportionate in relation to the damage. It is found that there is no scope for a punitive damage nor is it either possible to delimit the amount of compensation available without regard to the circumstances in each case. When it comes to awarding damages for non-material damage however, it becomes necessary to use flat-rates as long as they are related in a way that takes into consideration the circumstances of each individual case.