Italian court annuls €15M ChatGPT privacy fine
A Rome court ruled Italy's Garante had no jurisdiction once OpenAI set up its Irish subsidiary, cancelling the fine without ruling on the merits.
By Dev Okafor · Published · Updated · 4 min read
A Rome court has annulled Italy's €15 million GDPR fine against OpenAI, PPC Land reports.
The original fine
In November 2024, Italy's data protection authority, the Garante, fined OpenAI €15 million and ordered a six-month public awareness campaign across radio, TV, newspapers and the internet. It alleged failures including not reporting a March 2023 data breach, lacking a legal basis for training ChatGPT, transparency problems and weak age checks.
Why the court cancelled it
The court ruled on a procedural point: once OpenAI set up its Irish subsidiary in 2024, Ireland's regulator became its lead authority under the GDPR's "one-stop shop" system. The Italian Garante therefore had no jurisdiction to issue the fine.
The court did not decide whether OpenAI actually broke the GDPR.
Why it matters
The ruling means complaints about big AI companies with an EU headquarters will mostly be handled by the country where they are based — often Ireland. That centralises enforcement but has long been criticised for slowing it down.
