Definition:
Right of access (Ro: Dreptul la access, Gr: δικαίωμα πρόσβασης) (Internet Law, Consumer Law, International Trade Law, European Law, International Private Law) (see also: Data protection, Personal data, right to erasure, right to data portability) = one of the data subject rights enshrined in EU data protection law. According to article 15 of the General Data Protection Regulation, the right of access refers to the right of a natural person to obtain a confirmation of the status of their personal data processed by the controller and, where it is the case, to access the information that regards them such as (i) the purpose of the processing, (ii) categories of personal data processed, (iii) third parties, recipients, other persons that might have had access to the personal data, (iv) the storage period, (v) the source of the personal data, in case it wasn’t collected from the data subject and so on.
The right of access is the first step towards carrying out the other privacy-related rights that the data subject has (such as: the right to be forgotten, the right to object and so on).
Useful links:
Legislation
https://rm.coe.int/convention-108-convention-for-the-protection-of-individuals-with-regar/16808b36f1 - Council of Europe, Convention 108+ for the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data [English]
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32016R0679 – Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation) [English]
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32016L0680 - Directive (EU) 2016/680 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by competent authorities for the purposes of the prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of criminal offences or the execution of criminal penalties, and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Council Framework Decision 2008/977/JHA [English]
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32018R1725&from=EN - Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the EU institutions, bodies, offices and agencies [English]
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:31995L0046 – Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, (no longer in force) [English]
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2018/12/contents/enacted - Data Protection Act 2018, United Kingdom [English]
https://www.isipp.com/resources/full-text-of-the-california-consumer-privacy-act-of-2018-ccpa/ - California Consumer Privacy Act 2018, United States of America [English]
https://www.dataprotection.ro/servlet/ViewDocument?id=35 – Legea nr. 677/2001 pentru protecția persoanelor cu privire la prelucrarea datelor cu caracter personal și libera circulație a acestor date / Law no. 677/2001 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, (no longer in force) [Romanian]
Case Law
http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=155114&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=13251248 - The European Court of Justice, Judgement of 17 July 2014, YS v Minister voor Immigratie, C-141/12, EU:C:2014:2081 [English]
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1544996932323&uri=CELEX:62014CJ0362 - The European Court of Justice, Judgment of 6 October 2015, Schrems, C-362/14, EU:C:2015:650 [English]
http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=145533&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=req&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=935580 - The European Court of Justice, Judgement of 12 December, X, C-486/12, EU:C:2013:836 [English]
http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=74028&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=935805 - The European Court of Justice, Judgement of 7 May 2009, Rijkeboer, C-553/07, EU:C:2009:293 [English]
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/17pdf/17-2_1824.pdf - Supreme Court of the United States, US v Microsoft Corporation, 584 US, 2018
Online Publications
Galetta A., Hert P., A European perspective on data protection and access rights, available at http://irissproject.eu/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/European-level-legal-analysis-Final1.pdf [English]
Jasserand, C., Law enforcement access to personal data originally collected by private parties: Missing data subjects’ safeguards in directive 2016/680? in Computer Law & Security Review, 34(1), 2018 available at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0267364917302728 [English]
Lor P.J., Britz J.J., Is a knowledge society possible without freedom of access to information?, available at http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.584.6059&rep=rep1&type=pdf [English]
Publications
Sandru S., Protectia datelor personale si viata private, Ed. Hamangiu, Bucuresti, 2016 [Romanian]
Ticher P., Data protection vs Freedom of Information. Access and personal data, IT Governance Publisher, United Kingdom, 2008 [English]
Zanfir G. Protectia datelor personale. Drepturile persoanei vizate, Ed. C.H.Beck, Bucuresti, 2015 [Romanian]
Practical Use
European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) and the Council of Europe (2018), Handbook on European Data Protection Law – Edition 2018, Luxembourg, Publications Office, May 2018 [English]
European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), Hate Crime Recording and Data Collection Practice Across the EU, Luxembourg, Publications Office, 2018 [English]