Court case 4 K 252/19.GI – Court Ruling (Germany, 2019)

The plaintiff was designated as insolvency administrator for the B. GmbH (a limited liability company), that was not able to communicate its financial records after the opening of the insolvency procedure. Needing those records for the procedure, the plaintiff requested that the tax office of Gießen provide him with the documents. He based his demand, amongst other grounds, on §80 of the Hessian data protection law (freedom of information) and the the right of access (Article 15 GDPR) of the debtor on its behalf. This was possible as the applicable German law expands the right to access to legal entities in this specific case. The tax office refused, arguing that the plaintiff could not be considered as the data subject concerned but only as a “third party” as defined in Article 4(10) GDPR. Can an insolvency administrator exercise the right to access on behalf of a company? The Administrative Court of Gießen ruled in favor of the tax office. The Court started by demonstrating that the debtor, a corporation, had indeed a right of access under Article 15 GDPR in all taxation matters despite not being a natural person, in accordance with §2a(5) of the Abgabenordnung (national tax law). The Court then agreed with the tax office that the plaintiff is a “third party” and pointed out that the right of access is a highly personal right which could neither be alienated nor transferred, not even in the event of the opening of an insolvency procedure. Thus, the insolvency administrator had no rightful claim against the tax office for the release of financial records of the debtor.