Harri Värs – Court Ruling (Estonia, 2026)

The data subject asked the county court (Harju County Court) to disclose several documents held by the court. The request covered three different categories of information. First, the data subject wanted to inspect and copy the file of a closed criminal case. Second, requested the applications submitted by third parties who had asked to access another criminal case file. Third, requested the employment contract and job description of the court’s press officer. He also asked whether the press officer had received any disciplinary sanctions. The court answered only part of the request. It stated that no disciplinary sanctions had been imposed on the press officer. However, it refused the remaining parts. It considered that the request required legal assessment and could therefore be treated as a request for clarification rather than as an access-to-information request. It also argued that the criminal case file and the third-party access applications contained personal data and restricted information. The employment contract was also refused on the basis that it contained information subject to access restrictions. The complainant challenged the refusal before the administrative court, which dismissed the complaint and upheld the county court refusal. He then appealed to the second instance court (Tallinn Circuit Court), which also dismissed the appeal. The data subject later appealed to the Supreme Court, which had to decide whether county court had correctly handled the request as a public information request and how access to court-held documents should be reconciled with the protection of personal data. The case raised issues under Article 6 GDPR, since disclosure of personal data by a public authority requires a legal basis; Article 9 GDPR, since archived criminal case files may contain special categories of personal data; and Article 86 GDPR, since the dispute concerned public access to official documents held by a public authority. The Supreme Court partially