Territorial Limits to the European Union's Right to be Forgotten: How the CNIL Ignores Jurisdictional Basics in Its March 10, 2016 Decision Against Google

Abstract

INTRODUCTION The famous emperor of the French, Napoleon Bonaparte, once said the "the policies of all powers are inherent in their geography.” One interpretation of this quote is the Napoleon subscribed to the general rule of international law that the sovereign power of a nation is limited to its territory.|More recently, the National Commission on Informatics and Liberty, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertes ("CNIL"), the independent French regulatory body, issued its March 10, 2016 decision fining Google, Inc ("Google") €1000,000 for violating its order to delist search results for individuals' names worldwide despite Google's delisting in all European Union website extensions. The CNIL Restricted Committee decided that "when applied, the delisting must be effective without restriction ... even if it conflicts with foreign rights," which Google challenged as outside of the CNIL's jurisdiction.