Municipal executives of Roerdalen, Valkenburg aan de Geul, Vaals and Brunssum – Court Ruling (Netherlands, 2021)

The claimant submitted data subject access requests to the municipal executives of Roerdalen, Valkenburg aan de Geul, Vaals and Brunssum in 2020. The municipal executives responded within one month asking the claimant to identify himself and informing him that his requests cannot be processed until this is done. The claimant sent requests to expedite the decision on his requests taking the view that decisions on his requests were not taken in a timely manner. In their responses, the municipalities have referred to their earlier letters and asked the claimant once again to identify himself. The claimant filed appeals regarding the failure to make timely decisions on his GDPR access request. Has the claimant abused his rights? Should his requests be rejected by the municipalities? The Court considered that the claimant had not used his access request to exercise his rights in line with the GDPR, but rather to initiate proceedings against the municipalities in question and collect penalty payments for the delayed decisions. The claimant failed to mention the GDPR in his access request, which had caused ambiguity and delay. Furthermore, he did not identify himself and failed to respond to the several identification requests sent by the municipalities, although he was aware that this would prevent the municipalities from deciding on his request. When sending his notices of expiration, the claimant was aware that his request could not have been decided upon. Moreover, these notices were worded in such a way that they could have and have indeed caused further confusion. The claimant showed bad faith and has therefore abused his power. The appeals for the failure to make a timely decision are declared inadmissible on account of abuse of rights.