VG Berlin - 42 K 25/25

Summary

A German court has ruled that a Jehovah's Witnesses congregation must provide former members with access to their personal data, specifically a copy of an introductory letter sent to their new congregation. The court rejected the congregation's argument that religious confidentiality laws justified withholding the information, emphasizing the primacy of EU law and GDPR's right of access provisions.

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Help VG Berlin - 42 K 25/25: Difference between revisions From GDPRhub Jump to:navigation, search ← Older editVisualWikitext Revision as of 06:40, 12 August 2026 view sourceAv (talk | contribs)Bureaucrats, Interface administrators, noContributionReport, Administrators132 edits Tag: Visual edit← Older edit Latest revision as of 08:27, 12 August 2026 view source Av (talk | contribs)Bureaucrats, Interface administrators, noContributionReport, Administrators132 editsTag: Visual edit Line 14: Line 14: |Original_Source_Name_1=VIS Berlin|Original_Source_Name_1=VIS Berlin |Original_Source_Link_1=https://gesetze.berlin.de/jportal/recherche3doc/VG_Berlin_42_K_25-25_NJRE001649655.pdf?json=%7B%22format%22%3A%22pdf%22%2C%22docId%22%3A%22NJRE001649655%22%2C%22portalId%22%3A%22bsbe%22%7D&_=%2FVG_Berlin_42_K_25-25_NJRE001649655.pdf|Original_Source_Link_1=https://gesetze.berlin.de/bsbe/document/NJRE001649655 |Original_Source_Language_1=German|Original_Source_Language_1=German |Original_Source_Language__Code_1=DE|Original_Source_Language__Code_1=DE Latest revision as of 08:27, 12 August 2026 VG Berlin - 42 K 25/25 Court: VG Berlin (Germany) Jurisdiction: Germany Relevant Law: Article 15(1) GDPR Article 15(3) GDPR Article 91(1) GDPR Decided: 17.06.2026 Published: 08.08.2026 Parties: National Case Number/Name: 42 K 25/25 European Case Law Identifier: ECLI:DE:VGBE:2026:0617.42K25.25.00 Appeal from: Data Protection Supervisory Authority of Jehovah's Witnesses (Datenschutzaufsicht Jehovas Zeugen)[1] Appeal to: Unknown Original Language(s): German Original Source: VIS Berlin (in German) Initial Contributor: av A court ordered a congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses to provide its former members access to their personal data undergoing processing by handing over a copy of an introductory letter that was sent to the members' new congregation. Contents 1 English Summary 1.1 Facts 1.2 Holding 2 Comment 3 Further Resources 4 English Machine Translation of the Decision English Summary Facts A Jehovah’s Witnesses congregation (the controller) sent another congregation an introductory letter containing the personal data of two members (the data subjects) who were changing congregations from the controller to the recipient. The data subjects did not receive a copy of this letter despite their request. They filed a complaint with the DPA of Jehovah's Witnesses in July 2023, stating that their right of access under the GDPR had been violated. The controller argued that providing access to the introductory letter would undermine confidentiality required by religious law. According to the controller, restricting the right of access was necessary to allow the elders of the congregations to fulfill their biblical mandate to care for the members as shepherds of God’s flock. The controller only provided the data subjects a short list of information about them contained in the letter. The DPA dismissed the complaint as unfounded in May 2024. It held that the restriction to the right of access was justified under Article 91(1) GDPR and the national Jehovah’s Witnesses Data Protection Act (DSGJZ), as providing access would jeopardise the religious community’s ability to fulfill its mission. The data subjects filed a lawsuit before the Administrative Court of Berlin in May 2024, claiming the right to obtain a copy of the introductory letter. Holding The court ordered the controller to provide the data subjects access to their personal data undergoing processing by handing over a copy of the introductory letter addressed to the data subjects’ new congregation. First, the court referred to the principle of primacy of EU law and held that Article 91(1) GDPR gives precedence to the data protection rules of religious associations or communities only insofar as these rules comply with the GDPR. Second, the court concluded that the data subjects were entitled to receive the requested copy pursuant to Article 15(1) GDPR in conjunction with Article 15(3) GDPR. The court considered a merely abstract overview of the processed data insufficient for verifying the lawfulness of processing. Furthermore, it assumed that the whole letter contained personal data and must therefore be disclosed in its entirety. Comment Share your comments here! Further Resources Share blogs or news articles here! English Machine Translation of the Decision The decision below is a machine translation of the German original. Please refer to the German original for more details. Court: Berlin Administrative Court, 42nd Chamber Date of Decision: June 17, 2026 Case Number: 42 K 25/25 ECLI: ECLI:DE:VGBE:2026:0617.42K25.25.00 Document Type: Judgement Source: Legal Provisions: Art. 15 EUV 2016/679, Art. 91 EUV 2016/679, § 8(1)(4) DSGJZ Operative Part The defendant is ordered, upon annulment of the decision of the Data Protection Supervisory Authority for Jehovah’s Witnesses dated May 27, 2024, to provide the plaintiffs with information regarding the plaintiffs’ personal data processed by the defendant by providing a copy of the introductory letter prepared on the occasion of the plaintiffs’ transfer from J… to L… effective July 1, 2023. The defendant shall bear the costs of the proceedings. The judgement is provisionally enforceable with respect to costs. The defendant may avert enforcement by posting security in the amount of 110% of the amount enforceable pursuant to the judgement, unless the plaintiffs first post security in the amount of 110% of the respective amount to be enforced. An appeal is permitted. Facts 1 The plaintiffs seek information from the defendant under data protection law in the form of the provision of a copy of an introductory letter. 2 The plaintiffs are members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. As of July 1, 2023, they transferred from the Jehovah’s Witnesses congregation in O… to the congregation in L…. For this reason, the transferring congregation issued a so-called “introduction letter” to the receiving congregation. 3 Despite their request, the plaintiffs did not receive a copy of the introduction letter. They therefore contacted the defendant’s data protection supervisory authority in a letter dated July 25, 2023, signed only by Plaintiff No. 1, and complained that their right to information had not been fulfilled. 4 The L… Congregation replied with a letter addressed to Plaintiff No. 1) dated August 18, 2023. Religious law stipulates that in the event of a change of congregation, a letter of introduction must be sent by the elders of the former congregation to the elders of the new congregation. This enables the elders to fulfill their biblical mandate to care for the preachers as shepherds of God’s flock. For the exercise of their pastoral duties, it is essential that elders be able to rely on confidentiality in their collaboration. A right of access could deter elders from fulfilling their pastoral mandate in all sincerity. For this reason, it is not provided for in the defendant’s religious law. However, to the extent that this does not jeopardize the spiritual and pastoral mission, - Page 1 of 6 - disclosure of the personal data contained in the introductory letter is permissible. This procedure is carried out in accordance with state data protection laws. The introductory letters concerning the plaintiffs contain the following data regarding the plaintiffs: “No attendance at meeting places; well-thought-out and fre- quent comments; no ministry position; no duties in the LuDZ; not on trolley duty; assigned to ÖZB, long-haul driving duty, and port duty.” 5 Further correspondence followed, in particular with the Central Europe branch office of the defendant, which assumed that the right to information had been satisfied by the letter from the L… congregation. 6 The plaintiffs filed a lawsuit on May 15, 2024. In support of their claim, they essentially argue that the defendant is attempting to rely on biblical interpretations to conceal its own misconduct. By doing so, it is in violation of the General Data Pr

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