THE PRO PERSONAE PRINCIPLE AS THE CJEU's INTERPRETATIVE CRITERIA VIS-A-VIS SITUATIONS OF SOCIO-DIGITAL VULNERABILITY

The pro personae principle is conceived as a guiding principle in cases of normative and interpretative conflict in fundamental rights matters, establishing a prevalence of the most favorable norm or interpretation for the individual; mutatis mutandis, it also governs as a criterion that mandates a restrictive interpretation when it comes to fundamental rights' limitations. As part of the human rights-based perspective, this principle has guided the EU fundamental rights system. The CJEU has made use of this principle in its judicial practice and interpretation when applying EU Law, in general, and, when interpreting the fundamental right to data protection (and other related rights) in particular. It has done so through the use of the indeterminate and ambiguous expression of the data subject's "particular situation". This article develops this principle, within the framework of the constitutionalization of EU, and defends its necessary use as a hermeneutic canon in the light of data protection norms and case law vis-a-vis socio-digital vulnerability.