Online price discrimination and personal data: A General Data Protection Regulation perspective

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) contains various provisions with relevance to online price discrimination. This article, which analyses a number of essential elements on this junction, aims to provide a theory on whether, and, if so, how the GDPR affects price discrimination based on the processing of personal data. First, the contribution clarifies the concept of price discrimination, as well as its typology and relevance for big data settings. Subsequent to studying this topic in the context of the Commission's Digital Single Market strategy, the article tests the applicability of the GDPR to online price personalisation practices by applying criteria as 'personal data' and 'automated processing' to several discriminatory pricing cases and examples. Secondly, the contribution evaluates the possible lawfulness of price personalisation under the GDPR on the basis of consent, the necessity for pre-contractual or contractual measures, and the data controller's legitimate interests. The paper concludes by providing a capita selecta of rights and obligations pertinent to online discriminatory pricing, such as transparency obligations and the right to access, as well as the right to rectify the data on which price discrimination is based, and the right not to be subject to certain discriminatory pricing decisions.