---
title: "Case C-131/12: judgment of 13 May 2014"
canonical: "https://dposchool.com/gdpr/case/c-131-12"
source: "https://curia.europa.eu/juris/liste.jsf?num=C-131/12&language=en"
source_note: "Only the judgment as published by the Court of Justice is authoritative."
text_as_of: "2026-10-28"
last_reviewed: "2026-10-29"
language: "en"
publisher: "DPO School"
---

Court of Justice judgment · Case C-131/12

# Google Spain SL and Google Inc. v Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (AEPD) and Mario Costeja González

[Reviewed by Sergio Maldonado Elvira on 29 October 2026](https://dposchool.com/gdpr/about#review)

- **Case:** C-131/12
- **Court:** Court of Justice
- **Date of judgment:** 13 May 2014
- **ECLI:** ECLI:EU:C:2014:317
- **Instrument:** Directive 95/46/EC (pre-GDPR; reasoning still applied under the GDPR)
- **Provisions:** [Article 4(2)](https://dposchool.com/gdpr/article/4#4-2), [Article 4(7)](https://dposchool.com/gdpr/article/4#4-7), [Article 3(1)](https://dposchool.com/gdpr/article/3#1), [Article 17](https://dposchool.com/gdpr/article/17), [Article 21](https://dposchool.com/gdpr/article/21)

Listed under "Related (earlier law or other instruments)": this judgment concerns earlier law or another instrument, not the GDPR alone.

## Holding (summary, not the official text)

A search engine operator processes personal data and is a controller for that processing; EU law applies where it has an establishment selling advertising in a Member State; and a person can ask it to remove links to information about them that is inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant, after a balancing of rights.

## Official source

- [Case C-131/12 on CURIA](https://curia.europa.eu/juris/liste.jsf?num=C-131/12&language=en)
- [Judgment on EUR-Lex (CELEX 62012CJ0131)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:62012CJ0131)

Checked against the official source on 28 October 2026.

Only the judgment as published by the Court of Justice is authoritative. This is reference material, not legal advice.

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