The State of the Netherlands – Court Ruling (Netherlands, 2020)

The plaintiff asked to the State to grant him access to procedural files in which he was involved against the State of the Netherlands concerning forgeries offence. The applicant claimed that the procedural files contained his personal data and evidences which could help him to prove his innocence in the aforementioned case and all the cases in which he would have been involved as party against the State. The State refused to grant him the access. The Court clarified the interplay between the right to inspection under the ePrivacy Directive and the right to access under the GDPR. First, the Court examines the basis of the applicant's request pursuant to Article 12 of the Code of Civil Procedure which requires to state fully and truthfully the relevant facts, and to submit all the document relevant to the application. In this regard, the Court considered that the applicant did not comply with this obligation. Indeed, the Court pointed out there is no docuiment showing that the applicant submitted an inspection request of the procedural files at stake. Then, the Court clarified that both the ePrivacy Directive and the GDPR apply. It considered that the right of inspection of document including personal data is not absolute. However, it stated that the access right and the right of inspection have to be understood as a right to a complete overview of all personal data, in a form that enables the data subject to inspect his or her data and to check that they are correct and have been processed lawfully. Regarding the format, the Court recalled that the data subject cannot expect to be provided with the original document and that the material form depends on the concrete circumstances. Finally, the Court considered that in any cae, the applicant's purpose was not to verify the accuracy and lawfulness of the personal data processed but to use them to prove his innocence in the case he was involved against the State and in any proceedings to be brought against the State. Thus, the court ruled that the applicant could not invoke the right to inspection because his claim did not concern the protection of his personal data and therefore, there was an abuse of rights. As a consequence, the court considered the applicant's claim as inadmissible.