The DPC received a complaint from an individual regarding a subject access request made by him to an organisation (the data controller) for a copy of all information held regarding his engagement with the data controller. The individual did not receive a response to this request. The DPC intervened to see if the matter could be informally resolved.

The complainant was in particular not satisfied with the fact that certain documents had not been provided in response to his access request. The position of the data controller was that the documents were not provided as the personal data had been provided “in another format”. Data protection access rights are not about access to documents per se. They are about access to personal data. An access request may be fulfilled by providing the individual with a full summary of their data in an intelligible form. The form in which it is supplied must be sufficient to allow the applicant to become aware of the personal data being processed, check they are accurate and being processed lawfully . Having examined what data the controller did provide in this case, the DPC was satisfied to advise the complainant that he had been provided with all of the data to which he was entitled under data protection legislation.