In a decision dated June 18th, 2025 (No. 23-19.022) published in the official bulletin, the French Court of Cassation affirmed that emails sent or received by an employee using their professional email account constitute personal data within the meaning of Article 4 of the GDPR. The employee has the right to access these emails, and the employer must provide both the metadata (time stamp, recipients, etc.) and the content, unless the requested information is likely to infringe upon the rights and freedoms of others.
In a final judgment dated October 2nd, 2025, the Paris Court of Appeal ordered the disclosure of a copy of the full content of messages sent and received by Mr. X from his Outlook and Teams email accounts, excluding attachments, for the period from January 1, 2024, to October 8, 2024, under penalty of €20 per document per day of delay.
This judgment is final.
1) STATEMENT OF THE DISPUTE:
Abn Amro Bank NV (hereinafter “the Company”) is a commercial and investment bank whose trading name in France is “Neuflize Obc”.
Abn Amro Bank NV hired Mr. X as of […] as […]”. The applicable collective bargaining agreement is that of the bank, and the company has more than ten employees.
In January 2021, Mr. X was promoted […] within the […] Management team.
By registered letter dated September 20, 2024, Mr. X was summoned to a pre-dismissal hearing and placed on administrative leave.
By registered letter dated October 8, 2024, Mr. X was dismissed for disciplinary reasons with a waiver of the notice period.
By registered letter dated October 11, 2024, Mr. X appealed to the bank's joint committee for an opinion on his dismissal.
This appeal suspended the dismissal procedure.
On October 17, 2024, Mr. X requested by email that access to his professional communication tools and personal documents be restored, which the company refused to do.
On October 28, 2024, the joint committee issued its opinion and by By registered letter dated January 17, 2025, the company confirmed the dismissal, initiating a new notice period.
By registered letter dated October 29, 2024, Mr. X requested a copy of all his personal data held by the employer, pursuant to Article 15 of the GDPR, and in particular, access to the contents of his work email accounts.
By email dated November 22, 2024, the company indicated that it could not respond within the one-month legal deadline and was postponing its response until February 4, 2025, the final deadline.
On December 3, 2024, the company provided his personal administrative file but refused to disclose the information concerning his work email accounts.
On December 20, 2024, Mr. X filed an application for interim relief with the Paris Industrial Tribunal seeking the disclosure of all requested documents, pursuant to Article 145 of the French Code of Civil Procedure.
On January 23, 2025, the company provided, as part of the application for interim relief, a 5,395-page PDF file containing, according to the company, all professional emails for the period from October 8, 2021, to October 8, 2024, but limited to their date, time, and subject, and the email addresses of only the employees.
On March 3, 2025, the Paris Industrial Tribunal issued the following order:
- Declared that there was no basis for interim relief regarding Mr. X's requests;
- Ordered Mr. X to pay costs.
On April 1, 2025, Mr. X appealed this decision.
2) REASONS FOR THE DECISION:
In a final judgment dated October 2, 2025, the Paris Court of Appeal, ruling publicly by a judgment rendered after adversarial proceedings and made available at the registry,
SETS ASIDE the order issued on March 3, 2025, by the Paris Industrial Tribunal.
Ruling anew,
ORDERS the disclosure of a copy of the full content of messages sent and received by Mr. X from his “Outlook” and “Teams” email accounts, excluding attachments, for the period from January 1, 2024, to October 8, 2024, under penalty of €20 per document per day of delay, within two months of notification of this judgment.
ORDERS the parties to use the disclosed data only within the framework of the legal proceedings before the Industrial Tribunal and, if applicable, the Court of Appeal;
The Court orders ABN Amro Bank to pay Mr. X the sum of €2,500 pursuant to Article 700 of the French Code of Civil Procedure, for all claims combined.
The Court dismisses Mr. X's remaining claims.
The Court dismisses ABN Amro Bank's counterclaims.
The Court orders ABN Amro Bank to pay the costs of the proceedings at first instance and on appeal.
This judgment was rendered by filing with the court registry, the parties having been previously notified in accordance with the provisions of the second paragraph of Article 450 of the French Code of Civil Procedure.
To read the full article, please click on the link below.
Frédéric CHHUM avocat et ancien membre du conseil de l’ordre des avocats de Paris (mandat 2019-2021)
CHHUM AVOCATS (Paris, Nantes, Lille)
e-mail: chhum@chhum-avocats.com
https://www.instagram.com/fredericchhum/?hl=fr
.Paris: 34 rue Petrelle 75009 Paris tel: 0142560300
.Nantes: 41, Quai de la Fosse 44000 Nantes tel: 0228442644
.Lille: : 45, Rue Saint Etienne 59000 Lille – Ligne directe +(33) 03.20.57.53.24
Pas de contribution, soyez le premier