Joined Cases C‑141/12 and C‑372/12
YS
v
Minister voor Immigratie, Integratie en Asiel
andMinister voor Immigratie, Integratie en Asiel
v
MandS
(Requests for a preliminary ruling from the Rechtbank Middelburget and from the Raad van State)
(Reference for a preliminary ruling — Protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data — Directive 95/46/EC — Articles 2, 12 and 13 — Concept of ‘personal data’ — Scope of the right of access of a data subject — Data relating to the applicant for a residence permit and legal analysis contained in an administrative document preparatory to the decision — Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union — Articles 8 and 41)
Summary — Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber), 17 July 2014
1.        Approximation of laws — Protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data — Directive 95/46 — Scope — Concept of personal data — Document preparatory to the decision on the grant of a residence permit containing data relating to the applicant and a legal analysis — Data included — Legal analysis not included
(European Parliament and Council Directive 95/46, Arts 2(a) and 12(b))
2.        Approximation of laws — Protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data — Directive 95/46 — Interpretation in the light of fundamental rights
(Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union; European Parliament and Council Directive 95/46)
3.        Approximation of laws — Protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data — Directive 95/46 — Right of access of the person concerned to personal data — Obligation to provide a summary of those data in an intelligible form — Scope
(Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Art. 8(2); European Parliament and Council Directive 95/46, Arts 2(b) and 12(a))
4.        Questions referred for a preliminary ruling — Jurisdiction of the Court — Limits — General or hypothetical questions
(Art. 258 TFEU)
5.        Fundamental rights — Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union — Right to good administration — Right of access of all persons to a file concerning them — Right unavailable as against Member States
(Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Art. 41(2)(b))
1.        Article 2(a) of Directive 95/46 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data must be interpreted as meaning that the data relating to an applicant for a residence permit contained in an administrative document, setting out the grounds that the case officer puts forward in support of the draft decision which he is responsible for drawing up in the context of the procedure prior to the adoption of a decision concerning the application for such a permit and, where relevant, the data in the legal analysis contained in that document, are ‘personal data’ within the meaning of that provision, whereas, by contrast, that analysis cannot in itself be so classified.
Such a legal analysis is not information relating to the applicant for a residence permit, but at most, in so far as it is not limited to a purely abstract interpretation of the law, is information about the assessment and application by the competent authority of that law to the applicant’s situation, that situation being established inter alia by means of the personal data relating to him which that authority has available to it.
Moreover, in contrast to the data relating to the applicant for a residence permit which is in such a document and which may constitute the factual basis of the legal analysis contained therein, such an analysis 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.
(see paras 38, 40, 45, 46, 48, operative part 1)
2.        See the text of the decision.
(see para. 54)
3.        Article 12(a) of Directive 95/46 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data and Article 8(2) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union 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 that the applicant be in possession of a full summary of those data in an intelligible form, that is to say a form which allows that applicant 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.
Therefore, in so far as the objective pursued by that right of access may be fully satisfied by another form of communication, the data subject cannot derive from either Article 12(a) of Directive 95/46 or Article 8(2) of the Charter the right to obtain a copy of the document or the original file in which those data appear. In order to avoid giving the data subject access to information other than the personal data relating to him, he may obtain a copy of the document or the original file in which that other information has been redacted.
(see paras 58, 60, operative part 2)
4.        See the text of the decision.
(see para. 63)
5.        Article 41(2)(b) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union must be interpreted as meaning that the applicant for a residence permit cannot rely on that provision against the national authorities.
It is clear from the wording of Article 41 of the Charter that it is addressed not to the Member States but solely to the institutions, bodies, offices and agencies of the European Union.
(see paras 67, 69, operative part 3)