An Individual's Right To Access Their Information

• Author: David Zetoony
• Profession: Is a partner in the Boulder, Colorado office of Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, LLP, an international law firm
• Pages: 55-60

55

An InDIVIDUAL’s

RIGHt to

Access tHeIR

InfoRMAtIon

Q.58 WHAt Is tHe “RIGHt to Access”?

The right to access refers to the ability of a person to request (1) that

a company conrm whether it has personal data about him or her and

(2) that a company provide that information to the individual.133

Q.59 DID tHe GDpR cReAte tHe RIGHt

of Access?

No.

While the GDPR confers a right to access, the right predates the

GDPR and can be found within other laws within the European Union.

For example, the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which was adopt-

ed in 2000, states that “[e]veryone has the right of access to data which

has been collected concerning him or her.”134

Q.60 HoW fAR cAn A coMpAny Go to

VALIDAte tHe IDentIty of An

InDIVIDUAL MAKInG A DAtA sUBJect

Access ReQUest?

The Article 29 Working Party has conrmed that there are no specic

requirements concerning how to authenticate a person who requests

133. GDPR, Article 15(1).

134. EU Charter of Fundamental Rights at Article 8(2), available at http://www.europarl

.europa.eu/charter/pdf/text_en.pdf (last visited Mar. 6, 2018).