The municipality of Venlo – Court Ruling (Netherlands, 2021)
General GDPR enforcement action
This case relates to broader data protection obligations, not specifically to cookie or consent banner compliance. It is not included in cookie statistics or the Risk Calculator.
A former employee of the municipality of Venlo in the Netherlands requested access to documents containing their personal data. The court ruled that the municipality did not have to provide copies of the documents if the information could be provided in another way. This case clarifies how access rights under GDPR can be fulfilled.
What happened
A former employee requested access to documents with their personal data from the municipality of Venlo.
Who was affected
The former employee of the municipality of Venlo who sought access to their personal data.
What the authority found
The court decided that the municipality did not need to provide document copies if the access request could be satisfied in another way.
Why this matters
This ruling clarifies that organizations can fulfill data access requests without providing document copies, as long as the information is accessible. It guides businesses on how to meet GDPR access rights efficiently.
GDPR Articles Cited
Controller is the municipality of Venlo. Data subject worked for the municipality as administrative assistant until March 2017, on a temporary basis via an employment agency. During this period, the data subject made several reports of suspected wrongdoing, one of which was investigated externally by Ernst and Young, on request of the municipality executive. The data subject was reprimanded two times in 2016, for certain remarks they had made. As of 1 April 2017, the hiring of data subject was prematurely terminated. On 10 July 2018, data subject made two requests. One access request pursuant to Article 15 GDPR, and one for the disclosure of documents under the Government Information (Public Access) Act (hereafter: Wob-request). On 3 September 2018, the data subject filed another access request. In the Wob-request, the data subject asked to provide him with copies of, or to allow him to inspect, documents that directly or indirectly refer to reports he made of suspected wrongdoing, to the whistleblower process that followed two of these reports, to the two warnings he received and to the termination of his contract of employment as of 1 April 2017. In both access requests, data subject asked to provide him with copies of all documents containing personal data relating to him, or to provide him with an overview listing all documents containing his personal data and to allow him to inspect these documents. By decision of 9 October 2018, controller dismissed both access requests, but granted the Wob-request. After data subject objected to the rejection, and this objection was dismissed, the data subject brought the action before court. In their judgment of 13 February 2020, the District Court considered that an access request pursuant to Article 15 GDPR does not provide a claim to a copy of the document in which personal data are contained, insofar as the purpose of this right can be fully satisfied in another way. Moreover, it held that this provision does not giv
Outcome
Court Ruling
A ruling by a national court on a data-protection matter.
Related Cases (0)
No other cases found for The municipality of Venlo in NL
This is the only recorded case for this entity in this jurisdiction.
Details
About this data
Cite as: Cookie Fines. The municipality of Venlo - Netherlands (2021). Retrieved from cookiefines.eu
Last updated: