Commissioner (Cyprus) - 11.17.001.010.239
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| Commissioner - 11.17.001.010.239 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Authority: | Commissioner (Cyprus) |
| Jurisdiction: | Cyprus |
| Relevant Law: | Article 12(3) GDPR Article 15 GDPR |
| Type: | Complaint |
| Outcome: | Upheld |
| Started: | 25.11.2022 |
| Decided: | 28.02.2024 |
| Published: | 17.06.2024 |
| Fine: | 2,000 EUR |
| Parties: | Brivio Limited |
| National Case Number/Name: | 11.17.001.010.239 |
| European Case Law Identifier: | n/a |
| Appeal: | n/a |
| Original Language(s): | English |
| Original Source: | Office of the Commissioner for Personal Data Protection (in EN) |
| Initial Contributor: | lm |
The DPA fined a controller €2,000 after it failed to respond to a data access request within one month. It rejected the argument that numerous complaints filed by different data subjects with a motive other than data protection were "manifestly unfounded".
English Summary
Facts
On 25 November 2022, a data subject lodged a complaint with the Cypriot DPA against Brivio Limited (the controller), an online gambling platform, claiming an infringement of the right of access.
The data subject had requested the controller to provide complete information regarding their payment and gaming history as well as any other personal data relating to them, including data concerning other websites. The controller failed to respond to the data subject’s request within one month. Shortly after it was informed of the complaint to the DPA, the controller replied to the access request.
The DPA requested that the controller explain its failure to respond to the data subject’s access request in time. The controller stated that an internal investigation had revealed a failure by a staff member responsible for registering incoming correspondence and directing it to the relevant department and officer. It also noted a higher-than-normal volume of data subject requests, with 37 total received in a span of four months. The majority of the requests were made by one law firm on behalf of different data subjects.
The controller argued that the law firm’s access requests were all “manifestly unfounded.” It argued that the firm represented customers who were unsatisfied with the controller’s services and sought reimbursement, and used access requests to assist these demands and complaints; their interests were unrelated to data protection and privacy. The controller cited UK case Lees v. Lloyds Bank Plc EWHC 2249 (24 August 2020), in which a court dismissed an access request infringement claim because of the abusive number of repetitive access requests, ulterior motive other than data protection and the lack of benefit to the data subject. It requested the DPA's advice on whether they could refuse future access requests from the law firm due to their “manifestly unfounded” nature.
Holding
The DPA found that the controller infringed Article 12(3) GDPR because it failed to respond to the data subject’s access request within one month. It issued a fine of €2,000.
In particular, the DPA noted that the request could have been satisfied within the time frame if there had been appropriate organisational and technical measures as well as staff training in place. Thus, the higher-than-usual volume of identical access requests should not have affected the controller’s ability to respond to the access requests in a timely manner.
With regard to the controller’s question of whether the access requests were “manifestly unfounded” pursuant to Article 12(5) GDPR, the DPA clarified that this provision refers to when one single data subject submits a request or several requests which are considered manifestly unfounded. The access requests submitted by the law firm are thus not, as a whole, manifestly unfounded because they are submitted on behalf of multiple different data subjects.
The DPA referenced Guidelines 01/2022 in noting that the requests must each be assessed individually. Pursuant to the Guidelines, “the aim of the right of access is not suitable to be analysed as a precondition for the exercise of the right of access by the controller as part of its assessment access requests.” The controller should not ask why the data subject is requesting access, but rather what they are requesting. The DPA rejected the argument that access should be denied on the grounds that the requested data could be used by a data subject to defend themselves in court. It also rejected the applicability of Lees v. Lloyds Bank Plc’s reasoning because that case involved the submission of an access request by a single data subject and contradicted the Guidelines 01/2022.
Finally, the DPA considered that while many access requests were submitted by the law firm, the controller had also received two complaints which were submitted by other data subjects and concerned access requests that the controller failed to answer.
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English Machine Translation of the Decision
The decision below is a machine translation of the English original. Please refer to the English original for more details.
Our ref.: 11.17.001.010.239
28 February 2024
Decision
Complaint regarding the right to access
A complaint was lodged with my Office, on 25/11/2022, on behalf of XXXX against Brivio
Limited, regarding the right of access (Article 15 of the GDPR).
1. Description of the case
1.1. The complaint was lodged on 25/11/2022, by XXXX (hereinafter, “the Law Firm”) on
behalf of XXXX (hereinafter, “the Complainant”) against Brivio Limited (hereinafter, “the
Controller”) and involves the Controller’s failure to comply with the Complainant’s access
request.
1.2. Since the attached, to the complaint form, written request to the Controller, was in
German, the Commissioner, on 30/12/2022, asked the Complainant to provide the Greek or
English version of the said document in order to be able to investigate the complaint. On
10/01/2023, the Commissioner received an English translation of the complaint.
1.3. According to the Complainant, he had been a customer of the Controller. The former
contacted the latter via the Law Firm, at the postal address “Office 102, 12A Lekorpouzier,
3075 Limassol, Zypern” on 10.10.2022, requesting that the Controller provides him with “cost-
free and complete (including data regarding other websites) information” regarding the
payment and gaming history, as well as all other personal data relating to him, as was his
legal right according to Article 15 of the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679
(hereinafter, “the GDPR”). He requested the said information to be delivered to the legal office
within one month at the latest.
1.4. Moreover, information about the following questions was requested in case the Controller
processed personal data of the Complainant:
“1. What personal data do you process?
2. For what purpose(s) do you process this data?
3. Where does this data come from?
4. Have you transferred or do you plan to transfer these data to third parties? If yes, to
whom, when and for what purpose(s)?
5. Send us the complete payment and gaming history of all gaming accounts of our clients
in machine-readable excel format.
6. How long will you process the data (data deletion concept)?
7. Have you created a profile regarding our client? If yes, please tell us the content of this
profile and how it was created”.
1.5. Nevertheless, the Complainant claimed that he had not received any response to his
request despite the deadline and the documented delivery.
2. Investigation by Cyprus SA
2.1. The Commissioner contacted the Controller on 19/01/2023 and requested the reason for
not responding to the Complainant’s access request as well as any other information theydeemed necessary. The Controller was also informed for the provisions of the Articles 15(1)
and 12(3) of the GDPR.
2.2. In their reply, on 31/01/2023, the Controller stated, inter alia, the following:
i. On 24/10/2022, the Controller received at their postal address (Office 102, 12A
Lekorpouzier, 3075 Limassol, Zypern) a letter from the Law Firm requesting access to
personal data of the Complainant according to Article 15 of the GDPR.
ii. The Controller’s internal investigation has determined that a failure by a staff member
responsible for registering incoming correspondence and redirecting it to the relevant
departments and officers was the reason for the non-answering within the one-month
period.
iii. However, the Controller noted that they were experiencing a higher-than-normal
volume of data subjects’ requests (DSARs). During the period of October 2022 to
January 2023, they received twenty-seven DSARs at their postal address and ten
DSARs at their e-mail address dedicated to privacy matters, from the Law Firm, all on
behalf of different data subjects.
iv. The Controller fully complied with all of the DSARs received from the Law Firm,
providing all necessary information in a timely manner. This statistic shows that their
commitment to fulfilling data protection obligations is a top priority, and they continue to
work closely with the Law Firm to ensure the accurate processing of their DSARs.
v. The Controller has taken all reasonable measures to allow data subjects to exercise
their rights in accordance with the GDPR. Despite all their employees being well
qualified and trained, in some cases, they cannot completely prevent a human error
that is generally common in the person’s behaviour, especially when faced with a high
volume of DSARs from one law firm.
vi. Upon receipt of the complaint, the Controller’s Data Protection Team immediately
reached out to the Law Firm. On 19/01/2023, they sent personal data of the
Complainant to the Law Firm and answered to the questions regarding their privacy
practices.
vii. The Controller conducted additional explanatory sessions for their team on the proper
fulfilment of their professional duties and implemented additional supervision in the
correspondence management process.
2.3. Moreover, the Controller asked for the Commissioner’s expert advice regarding the
DSARs submitted by the Law Firm and mentioned, inter alia, the following:
Taking into account the number, frequency, and purpose of DSARs submitted by the Law Firm
on behalf of their clients, the Controller believes that they have all reasonable grounds to
consider these requests “manifestly unfounded” under the GDPR. The Controller has several
factors that they consider to be evidence of the abuse of data subject rights as granted by the
GDPR:
i. Using the right of access for purposes that are not related to data protection:
the Law Firm acts as a legal representative of the Controller’s customers who
are dissatisfied with the latter’s services and seeking reimbursement. For this
purpose, the Law Firm submits DSARs prior to making any legal complaints or
demands.
2 According to Recital 63 of the GDPR, Art. 15 of the GDPR grants the data
subject a right “to be aware of, and verify, the lawfulness of the processing”. In
the current situation, considering all circumstances, it can be argued that the
intention of the Law Firm is not to actually verify the lawfulness of the
processing.
For clarity, it is worth mentioning that shortly after complying with DSARs, the
Controller often receives claims for reimbursement on behalf of the relevant
customer with a warning to file a lawsuit with court in case of failure to satisfy
the claims. This implies that the Law Firm has motives that are unrelated to
data protection and privacy.
The Controller assumes that the goal of the data subject requests submitted by
the Law Firm is not to exercise the right of access as outlined in Article 15 of
the GDPR, but rather to fish for legal opportunities, use the information against
the Controller and gain financial benefits. This makes the baseless nature of the
DSARs clear and obvious.
ii. Number and frequency of DSARs:
the Law Firm submitted over thirty-five DSARs on behalf of different data
subjects to the Controller between October 2022 and January 2023, using both
the Controller’s postal and privacy email address. Such a high volume of
requests not only causes disruption and places an excessive burden on the
Controller to respond, but also creates potential legal and compliance risks.
As demonstrated, there are reasonable grounds to consider DSARs submitted
by the Law Firm as “manifestly unfounded”:
• the Law Firm has no genuine interest in exercising the right of access on
behalf of its customers and is instead exploiting its formal legal position to
use DSARs as means of disrupting the business activity of the Controller;
• the Law Firm is targeting our Company on behalf of data subjects who
are left dissatisfied with our services;
• the Law Firm systematically sends identical requests on behalf of
different data subjects as part of a campaign.
The Controller makes all reasonable efforts to comply with its obligation under
the GDPR to facilitate the exercise of data subjects' rights. Despite the
manifestly unfounded nature of these requests, we have never refused the Law
Firm's requests for a copy of the personal data. However, the number of
requests from the Law Firm continues to grow, putting an increasing burden on
the Controller in terms of time and resources.
Given that the threshold for recognizing data subject requests as “manifestly
unfounded” under the GDPR is too vague and that we were not able to find any
specific guidelines of the Commissioner in this regard, we are seeking the
Commissioner's expert advice on whether we can refuse future DSARs from
the Law Firm due to their manifestly unfounded nature.
2.4. On 28/06/2023, the Commissioner contacted the Law Firm and asked them to confirm
whether the access request had indeed been satisfied.
2.5. Also, on 05/09/2023, the Commissioner asked the Controller to provide evidence
regarding their position that both the Complainant’s personal data and answers to questions
about the Controller’s privacy practices had been sent to the Law Firm.
32.6. The Controller replied on 22/09/2023, repeated the content of its previous letter and
attached the following files:
i. An email from the Controller to the Law Firm says, inter alia, that a copy of the
Complainant’s personal data as well as answers to the questions regarding the
Controller’s practices for processing personal data are sent. It appears that four flies
were attached to this email.
ii. The Controller shared with the Commissioner’s Office, a record with title “Data Subject
Access Requests Obtained from the Law Firm during the period of October 2022 to
January 2023”, including the date of receiving, the reference number of each request,
the response date and the source (email or postal address), as well as screenshots of
each data subject request and the response from the Controller. As the latter
mentions, “Detailed information regarding the receipt and timely response to each
request is available in the Evidence 2’ file accompanying this letter”.
2.7. On 01/11/2023, the Commissioner received a confirmation from the Law Firm that the
requested information was fulfilled in January 2023.
3. Preliminary Decision
3.1. In view of all the information provided before the Commissioner and pursuant the Articles
58 and 83 GDPR, on 17/11/2023, the Commissioner issued a Preliminary Decision, according
to which there was an infringement of the Article 12(3) GDPR, on behalf of the Controller,
since the latter failed to respond to the Complainant’s access request within the one-month
period and, hence, to comply with the provisions of the aforementioned Article. The
Preliminary Decision was notified to the Controller, at the aforementioned date.
3.2. Moreover, the Controller was informed that, based on the provisions of Article 58(2)
GDPR, the Commissioner has the authority to impose an administrative fine pursuant to
Article 83 GDPR. The Controller was given the right to be heard provided by Article 43 of the
General Administrative Law Principles Law of 1999, of Law 158(I)/1999, as amended and
invited, by 15/12/2023 at the latest, to state reasons why they believe they should had not be
sanctioned and/or any mitigating factors that they believe should had taken into account
before a Decision was issued. Also, they were requested to inform the Commissioner about
their turnover for the previous financial year.
3.3. On 14/12/2023, the Controller responded to the Preliminary Decision and stated, inter
alia, the following:
i. In the recent case Lees v Lloyds Bank Plc EWHC 2249 (Ch) (24 August 2020) that
occurred in the United Kingdom, the claimant submitted multiple DSARs to the bank
regarding his properties. The bank failed to respond to some of the DSARs within the
stipulated one-month period. Moreover, the claimant was dissatisfied with the
responses to certain DSARs, leading him to take the matter to court. The court decided
that the claim was without merit and should be dismissed. In reaching the final
decision, the court considered the following factors:
The issue of numerous and repetitive DSARs which is abusive;
The real purpose of the DSARs was to obtain documents rather than personal
data;
There was a collateral purpose that lay behind the requests which was to obtain
assistance in preventing the bank from bringing claims for possession. A
collateral purpose of assisting in litigation is not an absolute answer to there
4 being an obligation to answer a DSAR, but it is a relevant factor in the exercise
of the court’s discretion;
The fact that the data sought will be of no benefit to the claimant. The claims for
possession have been the subject of final determinations in the County Court
from which all available avenues of appeal have been exhausted.
ii. Keeping in mind the court’s conclusion, the following refer to “the DSAR submitted by
the Law Firm”:
Abusive Nature of DSAR: The number and repetitive nature of the DSARs
submitted by the Law Firm were highly unusual and abusive. The volume and
frequency of the requests exceeded what is typically considered reasonable for
a DSAR. Detailed evidence of the frequency / excessive nature of these
requests, has been provided to the Commissioner in their previous
correspondence.
Real Purpose of DSARs for Legal Procedures: The real intent behind the DSAR
in question was not a genuine interest in personal data access as intended by
the GDPR, but rather an attempt to gather information for potential litigation.
This misuse of DSARs as a legal tool detracts from their intended purpose of
protecting individual data rights, as outlined in the GDPR’s principles of fairness
and transparency.
Collateral Purpose for Legal Proceedings: The collateral purpose of the DSAR
was to acquire documents to assist the lawyer’s position in potential legal
proceedings against our company.
iii. Emerging trends in data protection regulation, such as those reflected in the UK’s draft
Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, propose to categorize certain DSARs as
“vexatious” if they constitute “an abuse of process”. This bill reflects new “best
practices” in regulatory approaches that acknowledge the importance of assessing the
intent behind DSARs when determining compliance and sanctions. This reflects a
growing recognition in the field of data protection that the right of access must be
balanced against misuse for unrelated purposes. This evolving perspective is in
harmony with the GDPR’s commitment to reasonable and fair data processing.
iv. In light of these factors, the DSAR submitted by the Law Firm was not motivated by
genuine privacy concerns but rather served as a pre-litigation disclosure exercise. As
such, there has been no serious breach of user privacy rights.
v. The turnover of the Controller, for the financial year, is 321.649 EUR.
4. Legal framework
4.1. Article 58 of the GDPR:
“1. Each supervisory authority shall have all of the following investigative powers:
(a) to order the controller and the processor, and, where applicable, the controller's or the
processor's representative to provide any information it requires for the performance of its
tasks; […]
2. Each supervisory authority shall have all of the following corrective powers:
(a) to issue warnings to a controller or processor that intended processing operations are
likely to infringe provisions of this Regulation;
5 (b) to issue reprimands to a controller or a processor where processing operations have
infringed provisions of this Regulation;
(c) to order the controller or the processor to comply with the data subject's requests to
exercise his or her rights pursuant to this Regulation;
(d) to order the controller or processor to bring processing operations into compliance with
the provisions of this Regulation, where appropriate, in a specified manner and within a
specified period; […]
(f) to impose a temporary or definitive limitation including a ban on processing; […]
(i) to impose an administrative fine pursuant to Article 83, in addition to, or instead of
measures referred to in this paragraph, depending on the circumstances of each
individual case; […]”
4.2. Article 15 of the GDPR:
“1. The data subject shall have the right to obtain from the controller confirmation as to
whether or not personal data concerning him or her are being processed, and, where that
is the case, access to the personal data and the following information:
(a) the purposes of the processing;
(b) the categories of personal data concerned;
(c) the recipients or categories of recipient to whom the personal data have been or will
be disclosed, in particular recipients in third countries or international organisations;
(d) where possible, the envisaged period for which the personal data will be stored, or, if
not possible, the criteria used to determine that period;
(e) the existence of the right to request from the controller rectification or erasure of
personal data or restriction of processing of personal data concerning the data subject or
to object to such processing;
(f) the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority;
(g) where the personal data are not collected from the data subject, any available
information as to their source;
(h) the existence of automated decision-making, including profiling, referred to in Article
22(1) and (4) and, at least in those cases, meaningful information about the logic
involved, as well as the significance and the envisaged consequences of such processing
for the data subject. […]
3. The controller shall provide a copy of the personal data undergoing processing. For any
further copies requested by the data subject, the controller may charge a reasonable fee
based on administrative costs. Where the data subject makes the request by electronic
means, and unless otherwise requested by the data subject, the information shall be
provided in a commonly used electronic form”.
4.3. Article 12(3) of the GDPR:
“The controller shall provide information on action taken on a request under Articles 15 to
22 to the data subject without undue delay and in any event within one month of receipt of
the request. That period may be extended by two further months where necessary, taking
into account the complexity and number of the requests. The controller shall inform the
data subject of any such extension within one month of receipt of the request, together
with the reasons for the delay. […]”
4.4. Article 83 of the GDPR:
“1. Each supervisory authority shall ensure that the imposition of administrative fines pursuant
to this Article in respect of infringements of this Regulation referred to in paragraphs 4, 5 and 6
shall in each individual case be effective, proportionate and dissuasive.
62. Administrative fines shall, depending on the circumstances of each individual case, be
imposed in addition to, or instead of, measures referred to in points (a) to (h) and (j) of Article
58(2). When deciding whether to impose an administrative fine and deciding on the amount of
the administrative fine in each individual case due regard shall be given to the following:
(a) the nature, gravity and duration of the infringement taking into account the nature scope or
purpose of the processing concerned as well as the number of data subjects affected and the
level of damage suffered by them;
(b) the intentional or negligent character of the infringement;
(c) any action taken by the controller or processor to mitigate the damage suffered by data
subjects;
(d) the degree of responsibility of the controller or processor taking into account technical and
organisational measures implemented by them pursuant to Articles 25 and 32;
(e) any relevant previous infringements by the controller or processor;
(f) the degree of cooperation with the supervisory authority, in order to remedy the
infringement and mitigate the possible adverse effects of the infringement;
(g) the categories of personal data affected by the infringement;
(h) the manner in which the infringement became known to the supervisory authority, in
particular whether, and if so to what extent, the controller or processor notified the
infringement;
(i) where measures referred to in Article 58(2) have previously been ordered against the
controller or processor concerned with regard to the same subject-matter, compliance with
those measures;
(j) adherence to approved codes of conduct pursuant to Article 40 or approved certification
mechanisms pursuant to Article 42; and
(k) any other aggravating or mitigating factor applicable to the circumstances of the case, such
as financial benefits gained, or losses avoided, directly or indirectly, from the infringement. […]
5. Infringements of the following provisions shall, in accordance with paragraph 2, be subject
to administrative fines up to 20,000,000 EUR, or in the case of an undertaking, up to 4 % of
the total worldwide annual turnover of the preceding financial year, whichever is higher:
(a) the basic principles for processing, including conditions for consent, pursuant to Articles 5,
6, 7 and 9;
(b) the data subjects' rights pursuant to Articles 12 to 22;
(c) the transfers of personal data to a recipient in a third country or an international
organisation pursuant to Articles 44 to 49;
(d) any obligations pursuant to Member State law adopted under Chapter IX;
(e) non-compliance with an order or a temporary or definitive limitation on processing or the
suspension of data flows by the supervisory authority pursuant to Article 58(2) or failure to
provide access in violation of Article 58(1).
6. Non-compliance with an order by the supervisory authority as referred to in Article 58(2)
shall, in accordance with paragraph 2 of this Article, be subject to administrative fines up to
20,000,000 EUR, or in the case of an undertaking, up to 4 % of the total worldwide annual
turnover of the preceding financial year, whichever is higher. […]”
5. Views of the Commissioner
5.1.1. Considering all the information above, the Controller failed to comply with the provisions
of the Article 12(3) since they did not respond to the Complainant’s access request within the
aforementioned one-month period.
75.1.2. I take into account that the Controller, shortly after being informed that the Complainant
lodged a complaint with my Office, reached out to the latter and completely fulfilled his
request. Nevertheless, I consider that, the Controller understands that the request could have
been satisfied from the first instance if the appropriate organizational and technical measures
were in place and the staff was properly trained in dealing with GDPR requests in a timely
manner.
At this point, I wish to respond to the Controller’s allegations, by referring to the Guidelines
01/2022 on data subject rights - Right of access (Version 2.0), adopted on 28/03/2023:
5.2. Regarding the claimed “manifestly unfounded” nature of the DSARs submitted by the Law
Firm on behalf of their clients:
5.2.1. The Controller asked for the Commissioner’s expert advice regarding the “manifestly
unfounded” nature of the DSARs submitted by the Law Firm for the following reasons:
I. the Law Firm has no genuine interest in exercising the right of access on behalf
of its customers and is instead exploiting its formal legal position to use DSARs
as means of disrupting the business activity of the Controller;
II. the Law Firm is targeting the Controller on behalf of data subjects who are left
dissatisfied with our services;
III. the Law Firm systematically sends identical requests on behalf of different data
subjects as part of a campaign.
5.2.2. The term “manifestly unfounded” can be found in the Article 12(5) of the GDPR,
according to which: “Where requests from a data subject are manifestly unfounded or
excessive, in particular because of their repetitive character, the controller may either: (a)
charge a reasonable fee taking into account the administrative costs of providing the
information or communication or taking the action requested; or (b) refuse to act on the
request. The controller shall bear the burden of demonstrating the manifestly unfounded or
excessive character of the request”.
5.2.3. I wish to clarify that the Article 12(5) refers to the case when a single data subject
submits a request or several requests and this/these request(s) is/are considered manifestly
unfounded. Therefore, I cannot answer to the Controller’s question regarding the “manifestly
unfounded” nature of the DSARs submitted by the Law Firm, as a whole, since those
requests were all submitted on behalf of multiple different data subjects, regardless of the
fact that the said data subjects were represented by the same law firm. “41. When receiving
requests for access to personal data, the controller must assess each request individually”,
as follows by the Guidelines 01/2022.
5.3. Regarding the DSAR submitted by the Complainant:
5.3.1. According to the Guidelines 01/2022:
“177. A request for the right of access is manifestly unfounded, if the requirements of
Art. 15 GDPR are clearly and obviously not met when applying an objective
approach […]”.
5.3.2. The Complainant requested to be provided with the personal data processed by the
Controller concerning him and answers to questions about the Controller’s privacy practices. It
appears that, the Complainant’s request was in line with the Article 15 of the GDPR.
85.3.3. Regarding the purpose / intention behind the submission of DSARs by the Law Firm
and the refer to the UK’s draft Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, I wish to mention
that, regarding the Complainant’s DSAR, the Controller could not know with certainty in
advance whether the Complainant would proceed with the use of the information against the
former in order to gain financial benefits. At least, at the time of the submission of the
Complainant's request, there did not appear to be such intention. Despite the fact that, after
complying with DSARs submitted by the Law Firm, the Controller often receives claims for
reimbursement on behalf of the relevant customer, this does not mean that, in the case of the
Complainant, the same would be the case.
5.3.4. In any case and according to the Guidelines 01/2022:
“13. Given the broad aim of the right of access, the aim of the right of access is not
suitable to be analysed as a precondition for the exercise of the right of access by
the controller as part of its assessment of access requests. Thus, controllers should not
assess “why” the data subject is requesting access, but only “what” the data subject is
requesting […] and whether they hold personal data relating to that individual […].
Therefore, for example, the controller should not deny access on the grounds or the
suspicion that the requested data could be used by the data subject to defend
themselves in court in the event of a dismissal or a commercial dispute with the
controller.
Example 1: An employer dismissed an individual. One week later, the individual decides to
collect evidence to file an unfair dismissal lawsuit against this former employer. With that in
mind, the individual writes to the former employer requesting access to all personal data
relating to him or her, as data subject, that the former employer, as controller, processes.
The controller shall not assess the intention of the data subject, and the data subject does
not need to provide the controller with the reason for the request. Therefore, if the request
fulfils all other requirements (see section 3), the controller needs to comply with the
request, unless the request proves to be manifestly unfounded or excessive in accordance
with Art. 12 (5) of the GDPR (see section 6.3), which the controller is required to
demonstrate”.
5.3.5. In view of the above, the Controller’s position regarding the purpose / intention behind
the DSARs submitted by the Law Firm or behind the DSAR submitted on behalf of the
Complainant, cannot be considered.
5.3.6. Regarding the claimed higher-than-normal volume of identical DSARs submitted by the
Law Firm, I wish to mention that this should not had affected the Controller’s ability to
respond to the Complainant’s DSAR in a timely manner. The DSARs were all submitted
on behalf of different data subjects; the fact that the said data subjects were represented by
the same law firm does not make any difference.
5.3.7. Therefore, I cannot take into account the allegations regarding the high volume of
submitted DSARs by the Law Firm.
5.3.8. Furthermore, as regards to the case Lees v Lloyds Bank Plc EWHC 2249 (Ch) that
occurred in the UK and which the Controller is referring to, cannot be taken into consideration.
The case refers to a single data subject who had submitted multiple DSARs. The court
considered the numerous and repetitive DSARs abusive, which is not the case, in this
particular complaint. The current complaint refers to the submission of a single DSAR on
behalf of a single data subject (the Complainant). Also, the court took into account the
purpose behind the DSARs. As regards to this, the Guidelines 01/2022 give clear guidance
regarding the purpose of the submission of a DSAR which I have already mentioned above.
Therefore, the case Lees v Lloyds Bank Plc EWHC 2249 (Ch) cannot influence the outcome
of this Decision.
95.4. Regarding previous similar complaints against the Controller:
5.4.1. Even if I accepted the Controller’s position regarding their timely response to many
requests submitted by the Law Firm, it cannot be ignored that, my Office had received two
more complaints which were not submitted by the said law firm. The complaints had been
lodged to the Austria and Malta SAs and thereafter received by my Office and referred to the
Controller’s failure to respond to two access requests.
5.4.2. Regarding the first complaint, I was of the view that the mere delay appeared to be a
minor infringement which had only slightly affected the data subject’s rights and freedoms.
Therefore, I considered that the investigation proceedings could be concluded as no further
supervisory measure was necessary at that stage. I informed the Controller about the
conclusion of the case, on 05/01/2023.
5.4.3. Regarding the second complaint, considering both the moderating and aggravating
factors, I decided, on 23/10/23, to issue a reprimand to the Controller to ensure that in the
future they handle the data subject rights in accordance with the provisions of the Article
12(3). I also mentioned that, in case of a similar incident, that would be handled more strictly
and the present complaint would be taken into consideration on taking any supervisory
measures.
6. Conclusion
6.1. Having regard to all the above information, and based on the powers vested in me by
Articles 58 and 83 of the GDPR, I conclude that there is an infringement by Brivio Limited, of
Article 12(3) of the GDPR, for the reasons mentioned above.
6.2. Moreover, following an infringement of Article 12(3), as explained above, under the
provisions of Article 83 of the GDPR, I take into account the following mitigating (1-3) and
aggravating (4-7) factors:
1. The Controller fulfilled the Complainant’s DSAR shortly after being informed
that a complaint was lodged with my Office.
2. The measures taken by the Controller after the incident to ensure that staff
proper fulfils their professional duties and supervise the correspondence
management process.
3. The Controller’s cooperation with the supervisory authority.
4. The Complainant’s DSAR was not satisfied within the legal timeframe.
5. The lack of appropriate measures for dealing with data subject requests to
exercise their rights, in a timely manner.
6. The Controller only became aware of the DSAR after being notified of the
complaint by my Office.
7. The two relevant previous infringements by the Controller, of the GDPR.
6.3. In view of the above and on the basis of the powers conferred on me by the provisions of
subparagraph (i) of paragraph (2) of Article 58 of the GDPR, I have decided to impose an
administrative fine of €2,000 (two thousand euro) pursuant to Article 83, to Brivio
Limited for the infringement of Article 12(3) of the GDPR.
10Irene Loizidou Nicolaidou
Commissioner
For Personal Data Protection
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