Access to personal data
Access rights
Individuals can ask an organisation for a copy of the personal information they have about them.
The request may be either oral or written.
Processing time
The organisation must provide an individual with a copy of their data as soon as possible and no later than 1 month after the request.
In certain circumstances, for example, particularly complicated or many requests, the deadline may be extended by 2 months. In this case, individuals must be informed:
within 1 month of their request
on why there is a delay
about the right to file a complaint with the Data Protection Authority
Exceptions
Under certain circumstances, an organisation may retain information again, for example, if the information relates to:
scientific study or archiving
prevention or investigation of a crime
national security, defence or public interest
In these cases they are not obliged to inform why information is being retained.
Cost
Access to an individuals data is generally free of charge.
However, an orgnisation may charge administrative costs in certain circumstances, for example if:
asked is for a lot of information
it takes a lot of time and effort to process the request
request is clearly unfounded or excessive due to repeated
