State Secretary of Justice and Security – Court Ruling (Netherlands, 2021)
General GDPR enforcement action
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A Dutch court ruled that a person could not access detailed documents containing their personal data under GDPR. The court found that the person had no right to physical or digital copies of documents, only to a copy of the personal data itself. This decision clarifies the limits of data access rights under GDPR.
What happened
A person was denied access to detailed documents containing their personal data by the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security.
Who was affected
An individual seeking access to documents with their personal data related to a legal case.
What the authority found
The court held that under Article 15 GDPR, individuals do not have the right to access physical or digital copies of documents containing their personal data.
Why this matters
This ruling clarifies that GDPR does not grant the right to access detailed documents, only the data itself, which is important for businesses managing data access requests.
GDPR Articles Cited
On 9 July 2019, the data subject made a request to the Ministry of Justice and Security (the controller) to access his personal data pursuant to Article 15 GDPR. The controller decided to reject this request on 15 October 2019. During the hearing on 26 November 2019, the controller deemed the data subject's request to be formulated too generally. In response to this, the data subject specified it by requesting access to the personal data processed during the exchange of documents by the Dutch Immigration and Naturalization Service with the civil registry of the municipality and the Court of Appeal of Arnhem-Leeuwarden. The data subject specifically wanted to know which personal data had been processed in connection with the procedure before the Court of Appeal concerning an alleged sham paternity recognition of his daughter, and by which departments these data had been processed. In the contested decision from 19 December 2019, the controller considered the data subject’s objection to the decision as unfounded since his request did not concern personal data that had been processed by the Repatriation and Departure Service. Moreover, the data subject had initially failed to respond sufficiently to the request of the controller to provide additional information regarding his request to access. Consequently, there is no right to penalty payment due to the failing of a timely decision as the controller had the right to reject the data subject's application as unfounded. The data subject appealed this decision. First, the data subject was interested in the detailed documents and appendices in which his personal data had been processed. In the District Court’s opinion, the data subject had no right to this under Article 15 GDPR. This Article does not provide the right to physical or digital copies in which the personal data has been processed. This is further specified in Article 15(3) GDPR as it states that the data subject has the right to a copy of the personal da
Outcome
Court Ruling
A ruling by a national court on a data-protection matter.
Related Cases (0)
No other cases found for State Secretary of Justice and Security in NL
This is the only recorded case for this entity in this jurisdiction.
Details
About this data
Cite as: Cookie Fines. State Secretary of Justice and Security - Netherlands (2021). Retrieved from cookiefines.eu
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