Supreme Court of Cassation: filing an audio file within a judicial proceedings does not infringe any privacy rights.

Defending oneself in court, especially when the dispute relates to personal rights closely linked to human dignity - and thus the rights of workers, according to Article 36 of the Italian Constitution. - is a fundamental right and, in the relationship between employer and employee, legitimate expectations are created and, among these, that of mutual loyalty and respect for the employee's rights; Articles 17 and 21 of the GDPR make it clear that, in balancing the interests at stake, the right to defend oneself in court may be deemed to prevail over the rights of the data subject to the processing of personal data; in particular, Art. In particular, Article 17(3)(e) of the GDPR provides that paragraphs 1 and 2 (right to erasure) do not apply to the extent that processing is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims, and Article 21 (right to object) allows the data controller to demonstrate ‘the existence of compelling legitimate grounds for processing which override the interests, rights and freedoms of the data subject or for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims’.

This is how the Civil Cassation expressed itself in Ordinance No. 24797/2024, in which it re-acknowledged the right of some workers to produce in court an audio file containing the recording of a conversation (among other things, dating back years) with the managers and legal representatives of the company that had appealed to the Guarantor (rejected) for violation of the principle of lawfulness and fairness in processing. The Court of Venice had annulled the decision of the Privacy Guarantor, while the Court of Cassation ordered the annulment with reference on the basis of the above considerations.