MINISTER VOOR IMMIGRATIE V. M, 17.7.2014 (“Minister v. M”)

Right to access: The right of access is a per-requisite to obtain rectification, erasure or blocking of personal data (¶¶ 44-46). To comply with the right of access it is sufficient for the applicant to be provided with a full summary of those data in an intelligible form, that is, a form which allows him to become aware of those data and to check that they are accurate and processed in compliance with the Directive. He need not be given a copy of the documents. (¶¶ 59-60)

As regards those rights of the data subject, referred to in Directive 95/46, it must be noted that the protection of the fundamental right to respect for private life means, inter alia, that that person may be certain that the personal data concerning him are correct and that they are processed in a lawful manner. As is apparent from recital 41 in the preamble to that directive, it is in order to carry out the necessary checks that the data subject has, under Article 12(a) of the directive, a right of access to the data relating to him which are being processed. That right of access is necessary, inter alia, to enable the data subject to obtain, depending on the circumstances, the rectification, erasure or blocking of his data by the controller and consequently to exercise the right set out in Article 12(b) of that directive (see, to that effect, the judgment in Rijkeboer, C‑553/07, EU:C:2009:293, paragraphs 49 and 51).

In contrast to the data relating to the applicant for a residence permit which is in the minute and which may constitute the factual basis of the legal analysis contained therein, such an analysis, as the Netherlands and French Governments have noted, is not in itself liable to be the subject of a check of its accuracy by that applicant and a rectification under Article 12(b) of Directive 95/46.

In those circumstances, extending the right of access of the applicant for a residence permit to that legal analysis would not in fact serve the directive’s purpose of guaranteeing the protection of the applicant’s right to privacy with regard to the processing of data relating to him, but would serve the purpose of guaranteeing him a right of access to administrative documents, which is not however covered by Directive 95/46.

In situations such as those in the main proceedings, it follows from the answer given in paragraph 48 above that only the data relating to the applicant for a residence permit contained in the minute and, where relevant, the data in the legal analysis contained in the minute are ‘personal data’ within the meaning of Article 2(a) of Directive 95/46. Consequently the right of access which that applicant may rely on under Article 12(a) of Directive 95/46 and Article 8(2) of the Charter relates solely to those data. For that right of access to be complied with, it is sufficient for the applicant for a residence permit to be provided with a full summary of all of those data in an intelligible form, that is, a form which allows him to become aware of those data and to check that they are accurate and processed in compliance with that directive, so that he may, where relevant, exercise the rights conferred on him by Articles 12(b) and (c), 14, 22 and 23 of that directive.

It follows from the foregoing considerations that the answer to the third and fifth questions in Case C‑141/12 and the first and second questions in Case C‑372/12 is that Article 12(a) of Directive 95/46 and Article 8(2) of the Charter must be interpreted as meaning that an applicant for a residence permit has a right of access to all personal data concerning him which are processed by the national administrative authorities within the meaning of Article 2(b) of that directive. For that right to be complied with, it is sufficient for the applicant to be provided with a full summary of those data in an intelligible form, that is, a form which allows him to become aware of those data and to check that they are accurate and processed in compliance with that directive, so that he may, where relevant, exercise the rights conferred on him by that directive.