menu MENU
arrow_back Back to the list of all Articles
Change country (Currently : Poland) language
Contact our local member in Poland mail_outline
Visit the website of GKR Legal account_balance

arrow_backPrevious Article
Article 86
Next Articlearrow_forward

Processing and public access to official documents

Official
Texts Guidelines Caselaw Review of
EU Regulation Review of
Nat. Regulation
Show key term(s) and Article(s) related to article 86 of the Regulation keyboard_arrow_down Hide key term(s) and Article(s) related to article 86 keyboard_arrow_up
Show the recitals of the Regulation related to article 86 keyboard_arrow_down Hide the recitals of the Regulation related to article 86 keyboard_arrow_up

(154)This Regulation allows the principle of public access to official documents to be taken into account when applying this Regulation. Public access to official documents may be considered to be in the public interest. Personal data in documents held by a public authority or a public body should be able to be publicly disclosed by that authority or body if the disclosure is provided for by Union or Member State law to which the public authority or public body is subject. Such laws should reconcile public access to official documents and the reuse of public sector information with the right to the protection of personal data and may therefore provide for the necessary reconciliation with the right to the protection of personal data pursuant to this Regulation. The reference to public authorities and bodies should in that context include all authorities or other bodies covered by Member State law on public access to documents. Directive 2003/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (14) leaves intact and in no way affects the level of protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data under the provisions of Union and Member State law, and in particular does not alter the obligations and rights set out in this Regulation. In particular, that Directive should not apply to documents to which access is excluded or restricted by virtue of the access regimes on the grounds of protection of personal data, and parts of documents accessible by virtue of those regimes which contain personal data the re-use of which has been provided for by law as being incompatible with the law concerning the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data.

Show the recitals of the Directive related to article 86 keyboard_arrow_down Hide the recitals of the Directive related to article 86 keyboard_arrow_up

(72) Whereas this Directive allows the principle of public access to official documents to be taken into account when implementing the principles set out in this Directive,

The GDPR

The right to personal data protection cannot be an absolute obstacle to the communication of administrative documents. For this reason, Article 86 stipulates that the personal data in official documents held by a public authority or a public body or a private body for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest may be disclosed by the authority or body in order to reconcile public access to official documents with the right to the protection of personal data.

Recital 154 stipulates that “public authorities and public bodies” should be understood to mean authorities and bodies governed by the law of a Member State in the area of the public access to documents.

These communications must however be in compliance with the law of the Union or the Member State to which the public authority or the public body holding the said administrative documents is subject.

The Directive

The Directive did not address the problem of the access to administrative documents and its reconciliation with the data protection (see however recital 72).

Potential issues

The Regulation refuses to unify the rules in order to ensure the difficult balance between the right of access to administrative documents, data protection and reliance on national law (even though a Union law may also address it).

arrow_back Previous Article • Article 86 • Next Article arrow_forward
arrow_back Previous Article • Article 86 Next Article arrow_forward
arrow_back Previous Article • Article 86 Next Article arrow_forward

Summary

European Union

European Union

CJEU caselaw

C-710/23 (3 April 2025) - Ministerstvo zdravotnictví

On those grounds, the Court (First Chamber) hereby rules:

1.      Points 1 and 2 of Article 4 of 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)

must be interpreted as meaning that the disclosure of the first name, surname, signature and contact details of a natural person representing a legal person constitutes processing of personal data. The fact that that disclosure is made for the sole purpose of enabling the identification of the natural person authorised to act on behalf of that legal person is irrelevant in that regard.

2.      Article 6(1)(c) and (e) of Regulation 2016/679, read in conjunction with Article 86 of that regulation,

must be interpreted as not precluding national case-law which requires a controller, being a public authority responsible for reconciling public access to official documents with the right to the protection of personal data, to inform and consult the natural person concerned prior to the disclosure of official documents containing such data, provided that such an obligation is not impossible to implement and that it does not require disproportionate effort and, therefore, it does not result in a disproportionate restriction on public access to those documents.

Judgment of the Court 

Retour au sommaire Retour au sommaire
arrow_back Previous Article • Article 86 Next Article arrow_forward
Regulation
1e 2e

Art. 86

Personal data in official documents held by a public authority or a public body or a private body for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest may be disclosed by the authority or body in accordance with Union or Member State law to which the public authority or body is subject in order to reconcile public access to official documents with the right to the protection of personal data pursuant to this Regulation.
1st proposal close

No specific provision
2nd proposal close

Art. 80a

Personal data in official documents held by a public authority or a public body or a private body for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest may be disclosed by the authority or body in accordance with Union law or Member State law to which the public authority or body is subject in order to reconcile public access to official documents with the right to the protection of personal data pursuant to this Regulation.
Directive close

(72) Whereas this Directive allows the principle of public access to official documents to be taken into account when implementing the principles set out in this Directive
Poland
compare_arrows

Starting from May 25, 2018 GDPR came into force and is fully aplicable in Poland. 

The Act on Protection of Personal Data of 29th August 1997 [unified text: Journal of Laws 2015, item 2135, 2281] is not in force since May 25, 2018. It was replaced by new regulation - The Act on Personal Data Protection of 10th May 2018, which implements GDPR in Poland. 

The Act on Personal Data Protection of 10th May 2018:

Article 6a [Corresponding application of provisions]

1. To the processing of personal data in the exercise of the constitutional and statutory competences of the President of the Republic of Poland, insofar as it does not fall within national security, the provisions of Articles 4 to 7, Article 11, Article 12, Article 16, Article 17, Article 24(1) and (2), Article 25(1) and (2), Articles 28 to 30, Article 32, Article 34, Article 35, Articles 37 to 39, and Article 86 of Regulation 2016/679, as well as the provisions of Articles 6 and 11 of this Act, shall apply accordingly.

2. The processing of data referred to in Articles 9 and 10 of Regulation 2016/679 shall take place to the extent necessary for the performance of the constitutional and statutory competences of the President of the Republic of Poland, provided that the rights or freedoms of the data subject do not override the performance of the tasks arising from those competences. Articles 9 and 10 GDPR concern special categories of personal data and personal data relating to criminal convictions and offences, respectively. 
arrow_back Previous Article • Article 86 Next Article arrow_forward
close

2016 - www.itiplaw.eu.