The EU court said the bloc's executive authority violated a citizen's rights by transferring some of his personal data to the U.S. without proper safeguards.

In a first, the EU General Court ruled on Wednesday that the European Commission must pay damages to a German citizen for failing to comply with its own data protection regulations.

The European Union has been fined for breaking its own data protection laws after a court forced it to pay €400 (£335) to a German citizen for transferring his data to the US.

The development marks the first time the Commission has been held liable for infringing stringent data protection laws in the region. The court determined that a "sufficiently serious breach" was committed by transferring a German citizen's personal data,