OLG Frankfurt am Main - 11 U 172/19 (Kart)
| OLG Frankfurt - 11 U 172/19 (Kart) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Court: | OLG Frankfurt (Germany) |
| Jurisdiction: | Germany |
| Relevant Law: | Article 6(1)(f) GDPR Article 101 TFEU Article 56 TFEU § 1004 BGB § 19 GWB § 33 GWB § 823 BGB |
| Decided: | 30.11.2021 |
| Published: | 30.11.2021 |
| Parties: | German Football Association (Deutscher Fußball Bund, DFB) several consultancies for professional footballers (players' agents) |
| National Case Number/Name: | 11 U 172/19 (Kart) |
| European Case Law Identifier: | ECLI:DE:OLGHE:2021:1130.11U172.19KART.00 |
| Appeal from: | LG Frankfurt (Germany) 2-03 O 517/18; ECLI:DE:LGFFM:2019:1024.2.03O517.18.00 |
| Appeal to: | Pending appeal BGH (Germany) KZR 71/21 |
| Original Language(s): | German |
| Original Source: | Bürgerservice Hessenrecht (in German) |
| Initial Contributor: | Lewin Rexin |
The Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt ruled that, under Article 6(1)(f) GDPR, the interests of the German Football Association (DFB) in enacting disclosure requirements for player agent services outweighed those of player agents in maintaining confidentiality.
English Summary
Facts
The German Football Association (DFB) (defendant) has issued a regulation for player agents. Player agents are consultants for professional footballers, e.g. for the arrangement of club transfers. The player agent regulation contains a provision according to which players or football clubs are obliged to disclose details of the remuneration of player agent services to the DFB or similar bodies.
A director of a player agency (plaintiff) claimed injunctive relief against this disclosure requirement under §§ 1004, 823 German Civil Code (BGB) in conjunction with Article 6(1)(f) GDPR. In their opinion, the disclosure requirement violates Article 6 GDPR.
Holding
The Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt am Main (OLG Frankfurt) balanced the interests of the parties pursuant to Article 6(1)(f) GDPR.
It found that, within the framework of the balancing of interests of Article 6(1)(f) GDPR, the complainant's interests lie in the confidentiality of the requested data.
On the side of the defendant, who issues the regulations, the legitimate interest of transparency and traceability of arrangements of player transfers is pursued in order to exclude that sports operations are not dominated by unjustified financial interests of third parties.
The OLG Frankfurt concluded that the interests of the defendant prevail.
Comment
The OLG Frankfurt does not provide detailed explanations as to why the interests of the DFB prevail. It only states the respective interests.
It should be noted that the decision only deals with data protection law to a very limited extent. The core of the decision is antitrust considerations.
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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.
