---
title: "Case C-40/17: judgment of 29 July 2019"
canonical: "https://dposchool.com/gdpr/case/c-40-17"
source: "https://curia.europa.eu/juris/liste.jsf?num=C-40/17&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-40/17

# Fashion ID GmbH & Co.KG v Verbraucherzentrale NRW eV

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

- **Case:** C-40/17
- **Court:** Court of Justice
- **Date of judgment:** 29 July 2019
- **ECLI:** ECLI:EU:C:2019:629
- **Instrument:** Directive 95/46/EC (pre-GDPR; reasoning still applied under the GDPR)
- **Provisions:** [Article 4(7)](https://dposchool.com/gdpr/article/4#4-7), [Article 26](https://dposchool.com/gdpr/article/26), [Article 6(1)(a)](https://dposchool.com/gdpr/article/6#1-a), [Article 6(1)(f)](https://dposchool.com/gdpr/article/6#1-f), [Article 13](https://dposchool.com/gdpr/article/13)

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 website that embeds a social plugin is a joint controller with the plugin provider for collecting and sending visitors' data, but only for that stage; each must pursue a legitimate interest, and the site must obtain any consent and give information for the stage it controls.

## Official source

- [Case C-40/17 on CURIA](https://curia.europa.eu/juris/liste.jsf?num=C-40/17&language=en)
- [Judgment on EUR-Lex (CELEX 62017CJ0040)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:62017CJ0040)

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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