What happened
On a reference from the German Federal Court of Justice, the Court held that Article 12(5) with Article 15(1) and (3) obliges the controller to provide the data subject, free of charge, with a first copy of the personal data undergoing processing, even where the reason for the request is not one of those in the first sentence of recital 63. It held that national legislation adopted before the Regulation entered into force can fall within Article 23(1)(i), but that this does not permit legislation which, to protect the controller's economic interests, makes the data subject bear the cost of a first copy. On the copy itself, in a doctor and patient relationship the right entails a full copy of the documents in the medical records where that is essential for the data subject to verify how accurate and exhaustive the data are and to ensure they are intelligible, and in any event includes diagnoses, examination results, assessments by treating physicians, and treatments or interventions provided.
What changes at the desk
Stop asking what the request is for. A request made to gather material for a claim against you is a request, and a first copy of it is free. Charging for it, or making the answer wait on a reason, is a breach in its own right and one that is easy for an authority to establish from your own correspondence. Where national law appears to let you pass the cost on, read it against this judgment before you rely on it.
Primary source
RulingEuropean Union26 Oct 2023
This entry is a draft. No practitioner has reviewed it, and it should be read against the document it names rather than relied on as advice.