Municipality of Eindhoven – Court Ruling (Netherlands, 2020)

Appellant has been receiving welfare since 2011. In 2017, the municipality carried out an investigation triggered by an anonymous tip. As a result of this investigation the municipality concluded that the appellant had no right to receive the benefit and was supposed to pay it back. Appellant submitted a series of access and erasure requests to the municipality in 2018. Among other things, he wanted to have his bank details erased and he wanted to obtain access to the name of the reporter whose tip led to the investigation. The municipality refused to provide both and Court of First Instance upheld this part of the municipality's decision. Appellant is challenging the decision. The Council declared the appeal invalid. Appellant cannot access the name of the reporter because: a) the municipality says it doesn't have it and there is no reason to doubt that; b) even if they did have the name, appellant is not entitled to have access to it because it doesn't relate to him; c) the reporter is not the source of information, so Article 15(1)(g) does not apply. Appellant also cannot have his bank details removed because of the Archive act 1995 (Archiefwet 1995): the municipality is under the legal obligation to keep the information about social benefits for 10 years.