Court case VI ZR 576/19 – Court Ruling (Germany, 2021)

The controller is a life insurance company with which the data subject is insured. Even before the introduction of the GDPR, the data subject asserted a claim for information pursuant to § 34 of the old version of the German Data Protection Act (BDSG). The controller provided some information. However, the data subject was of the opinion that the information provided was incomplete. The claim subsequently asserted in court was dismissed at first instance. In the second instance, the data subject based his request for information on Article 15 GDPR, which has since entered into force. The data subject requested information on all personal data actually held by the defendant, which were subsequently specified in more detail. The court of second instance rejected the right to information, arguing that the claim had already been fully satisfied. The data subject had not specifically shown that the information already provided by the controller was incomplete and what further information he was demanding. Furthermore, the requested items were not subject to the right of access. The data subject appealed this decision to the Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof - BGH). The appeal against the denied right of access was successful. The data subject was entitled to information to the extent claimed. The claim was not fulfilled by the controller and insofar still existed to the extent asserted. The BGH refrained from a preliminary ruling since the interpretation of the law is clearly defined by the CJEU ("acte clair"). = The court first explains under which conditions a right of access is fulfilled. This is the case if, according to the controller's declared intention, the information constitutes the information owed in its entirety. If the information is provided in this form, any inaccuracy in its content does not prevent performance. The suspicion that the information provided was incomplete or incorrect could not justify a claim to information to a greater exte