Appellant A and Appellant B (residents of Almere) versus College van burgemeester en wethouders van Almere (Municipal Executive of Almere) – Court Ruling (Netherlands, 2025)

The data subjects submitted a request to the Municipality of Almere (the controller), under Article 15 GDPR, seeking access to their personal data contained in their adult son's 'Social Support file'. In May 2019, the controller provided partial access, refusing to provide access to the extent necessary for the protection of third-parties, their son. The data subjects challenged the decision of the controller before the court of first instance (District Court of Midden), alleging that the controller withheld additional personal data. The lower court partly agreed, finding that more data should have been disclosed, but upheld the decision on the extent that data concerning third parties should not be disclosed. The data subjects appealed the decision before the the Council of State, claiming that it is up to them and not the controller or the court to judge whether the confidentiality and the right to privacy of others makes an intrusion into the lives of their families permissible. They also sought damages for exceeding the reasonable time limit to a fair and public hearing. The Council of State upheld the controller’s decision to withhold access to the data subjects' personal data where disclosure would have infringed the privacy of their adult son. It confirmed that in the event of a conflict between the full exercise of the right of access under Article 15 GDPR and the rights or freedoms of others, it is up to the controller to weigh them against each other. In this case the controller adequately justified the balancing of interests. Additionally, it found that the total duration of the proceedings, exceeding the reasonable period of four years by two years and two months, violated the reasonable time requirement under [https://fra.europa.eu/de/law-reference/european-convention-human-rights-article-6 Article 6 ECHR]. The court awarded €2,500 in damages, split among the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of the Interior, and the controller.