The processing of personal data by Jehovah’s Witnesses carried out in connection with door-to-door preaching must comply with the rules of EU law on the protection of personal data

Court of Justice of the European Union held on 10 July 2018, that The members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses Community take notes in the course of their door-todoor preaching about visits to persons who are unknown to themselves or that Community. The data collected may consist of the name and addresses of persons contacted, together with information on their religious beliefs and their family circumstances. Those data are collected as a memory aid and in order to be retrieved for any subsequent visit without the knowledge or consent of the persons concerned. The Jehovah’s Witnesses Community and its congregations organise and coordinate the door-to-door preaching by their members, in particular by creating maps from which areas are allocated between the members who engage in preaching and by keeping records
about preachers and the number of the Community’s publications distributed by them.
Furthermore, the congregations of the Jehovah’s Witnesses Community maintain a list of persons who have requested not to receive visits from preachers and the personal data on that list are used by members of that community.

Read the original judgment