Court case 1 K 473/19.MZ – Court Ruling (Germany, 2020)

The claimant brought action against the termination of an investigation by the regional DPA (Landesbeauftragter für den Datenschutz und die Informationsfreiheit Rheinland-Pfalz – LFDI). He had made requests under Art 15 GDPR to a number of regional public authorities - several courts, attorney general’s offices, a ministry and a parliamentary body – but didn’t see his rights under GDPR met, except in one case. In particular, he didn’t feel informed about which information could be deleted. The claimant referred to a lack of consistency between the regional authorities in the application of Article 15 and a generally too narrow interpretation compared to its application on the national level. The DPA terminated the investigation with reference to a lack of provision of information by the claimant. Was the termination of the investigation by the regional DPA lawful and, in this context, did the regional public authorities respond adequately to the requests under Article 15 GDPR? The court denies admissibility of the claim and dismisses it. It was not possible to investigate the claims and hence confirm the necessary possible infringement of claimants’ rights since he did not provide sufficient information. Subsequently, the court explains that, had the claim been admissible, it could not have been successful. It confirms that the regional DPA met its obligation to request missing information from the claimant and that the claimant had not responded to this. In particular, the court explains, - although no legal expertise or analysis could be expected from him - had the claimant failed to specify which acts or omissions he felt were in breach of which right granted to him under GDPR, in particular Article 15. Not even if or why he was expecting the respective authorities to hold personal data on him, which of his requests had been responded to or not, and why those replies received were in his opinion not satisfactory. This lack of information also inhibited con