DPA case 6629/163/21 – Violation Found (Finland, 2023)
General GDPR enforcement action
This case relates to broader data protection obligations, not specifically to cookie or consent banner compliance. It is not included in cookie statistics or the Risk Calculator.
A healthcare provider in Finland charged patients for copies of their MRI scans, which should be free under privacy laws. This is significant because it shows that patients have the right to access their medical data without fees. Healthcare providers must ensure they comply with regulations regarding patient data access.
What happened
The healthcare provider charged fees for providing copies of MRI scans to patients requesting their personal data.
Who was affected
Patients who requested access to their MRI scans from the healthcare provider.
What the authority found
The Finnish DPA found that the healthcare provider violated GDPR by charging patients for access to their personal data.
Why this matters
This ruling reinforces that patients should not be charged for accessing their own medical data, urging healthcare providers to comply with data access regulations.
View original scraped data
Original imported citations before automated processing; the processing history does not establish independent verification.
Source checks
Secondary-source text retrieved.
Automated check recorded — 18 October 2026.
No issues were reported by that automated check.
Retrieved text may be a secondary summary or an announcement. These automated statuses do not establish that the original decision was read or that the record received an independent legal review. How we check sources
The Finnish DPA was notified that a healthcare provider (the controller) charged a fee for handing over copies of magnetic resonance images (MRI) when data subjects requested access to their personal data in accordance with Article 15 GDPR. The DPA had asked the controller to explain how it facilitated the exercise of data subject rights under Article 15 GDPR in situations where a data subject would request their MRIs without explicitly referring to their right under the GDPR. In response to the request, the controller clarified that it provided the MRIs free of charge when a patient made an access request in accordance with Article 15 GDPR. The controller also stated that it provided patients with medical records once a year free of charge when they invoked the right of access under the GDPR. However, the controller considered that when a patient requested a recording of their MRI examination directly from the MRI scanning, the right of access was not invoked, and the recording was chargeable. The controller also stated that in its price list, it was mentioned that the provision of material related to the right of access would be free of charge if the request was made using an access request form or from the controller's registry office and that in other cases, a fee was charged for the request. It added that when the patient requested access to their personal data, the controller did not separately ask whether it was a request regarding the right of access under the GDPR. On the basis of the information provided by the controller, the DPA stated that data subjects do not need to know how to invoke a specific provision of the GDPR in order to obtain their personal data free of charge under the right of access. Instead, the controller has an obligation to facilitate the exercise of the right of access and to inform the data subjects of the possibility of obtaining a copy of their personal data free of charge pursuant to Article 15 GDPR. The DPA considered that the
Outcome
Violation Found
The DPA found a violation but did not impose a fine.
Related Enforcement Actions (0)
No other enforcement actions found for DPA case 6629/163/21 in FI
This is the only recorded action for this entity in this jurisdiction.
Details
About this data
Cite as: Cookie Fines. DPA case 6629/163/21 - Finland (2023). Retrieved from cookiefines.eu
Last updated: