Court case M 32 K 20.2879 – Court Ruling (Germany, 2021)

The main legal question in this case was whether a data controller is obliged to grant data subjects access to certain official documents, including environmental information in connection with an approved geothermal probe, in light of the applicable Bavarian Environmental Information Act (BayUIG). In order to balance the interests of the controller (i.e. confidentiality) with the public interest (i.e. access to information), the national legislator should pay attention to the recitals of the GDPR and to Article 86 GDPR which concerns public access to official documents, as well as Article 6(2) GDPR and Article 6(3) GDPR which provides Member States with the possibility to adopt specific provisions allowing for certain types of processing activities. In light of Recital 154 and Article 86 GDPR, it appears that the GDPR requires the principle of public access to official documents to be taken into account when it is applied. Public access to official documents can be viewed as a public interest. The ruling court has no concerns that the national provisions of the BayUIG in question, an information access law in accordance with Article 6, Paragraph 2, last half-sentence, Paragraph 3, Clause 3, last half-sentence, Article 86 GDPR, are compatible with the provisions of the GDPR (for the conformity of the VIG with the GDPR see BayVGH, Bv 15.4.2020 - 5 CS 19.2087 - juris Rn. 25; for the conformity of the IFG, UIG and VIG with the GDPR see Schnabel in Simitis / Hornung / Spiecker gen.Döhmann, Datenschutzrecht, 1st edition 2019, Rn. 41 ff.) And therefore the information access granted here according to the BayUIG does not contradict the GDPR. The Administrative court of Munich points out the relevant facts about the relation of the GDPR to European and National Information Access Claims. There are no provisions of the EU GDPR to conflict with the right to information according to the BayUIG. Like all EU regulations, the GDPR enjoys direct validity and priority over national law in all member states. It must therefore be taken into account when using the BayUIG.