Court case 7 K 2578/22 – Court Ruling (Germany, 2023)
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 German court ruled that a university must provide a student with access to their complete test results, including unredacted questions. The student argued that the answers they provided are personal data, and the court agreed. This decision reinforces the right to access personal data held by institutions.
What happened
A student sued a German university to obtain a non-redacted copy of their test, claiming that the answers reflect personal data.
Who was affected
The student who took the medical admission test and requested access to their examination file.
What the authority found
The court held that the university must provide the student with access to their complete test results, including the questions, under GDPR rights.
Why this matters
This ruling emphasizes the importance of transparency and access to personal data for individuals. Educational institutions should ensure they comply with access requests to avoid legal challenges.
GDPR Articles Cited
A data subject took a test to a German University in order to be admitted to a Degree in Medical studies. The data subject sent an e-mail to the coordination office for the test, submitting that he had taken the test in Frankfurt on 7 May 2022 and requested a copy of his examination file as it contained personal data about him, in accordance with Article 15(3) GDPR and citing CJEU case C-434/16. On 15 June 2022 the coordination office replied to the e-mail giving an overview of the personal data about him that were being stored and a scan of the information on test processing. In addition to this, the office sent him a copy of the test booklet where the content of the test was blackened but his answers and notes were readable. The data subject replied to the e-mail complaining about the blackening of the test questions and he asked to receive a copy of the test including the questions too, within a week. As he did not get a reply within one week he sent another e-mail to the coordination office stating that he would file suit with the Administrative Court of Karlsruhe (Verwaltungsgericht Karlsruhe - VG Karlsruhe). The office replied that they believed that such a request might be unfounded or excessive and they could not provide any more information than what they did. On 03 August 2022, the data subject, hereinafter the plaintiff, filed suit with the VG Karlsruhe asking to obtain a non-redacted copy of the test he took under Article 15(3) GDPR, not to delete certain data about him and requesting access to other information about the testing procedure. As regards the test questions, he submitted that even though questions per se do not constitute personal data, the multiple choice answers he chose to tick do reflect his own choices and thus can constitute personal data. In its submissions, the test coordination centre, as a defendant, argued that it complied with the access request under Article 15(3) GDPR by providing the plaintiff with a copy of the test booklet
Outcome
Court Ruling
A ruling by a national court on a data-protection matter.
Related Cases (0)
No other cases found for Court case 7 K 2578/22 in DE
This is the only recorded case for this entity in this jurisdiction.
Details
About this data
Cite as: Cookie Fines. Court case 7 K 2578/22 - Germany (2023). Retrieved from cookiefines.eu
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