A ruling by the Austrian Supreme Court could change the common practice of companies only "taking into account" the data protection notice in their Terms and Conditions. The Austrian Consumers' Association filed a lawsuit against an insurance company because, according to consumer protection experts, several provisions of the insurance company's data protection notice violated the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The lawsuit was initially dismissed because the data protection notice was not part of the contract. However, the Supreme Court ruled in accordance with a judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union and in favour of the Austrian Consumers' Association, annulling several provisions of the data protection notice, as it was an integral part of the contract. Companies should therefore have their privacy statements reviewed by lawyers to avoid scrutiny.
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