Nowak v. DPC (Notice Party: Chartered Accountants Ireland) - July 2020

Judgment Date01 July 2020
Case OutcomeThe Court of Appeal delivered a written judgment on 1 July 2020, refusing an appeal by Mr Nowak against an earlier judgment of the High Court in which the High Court had upheld a decision of the DPC to the effect that, in the context of a subject access request, Mr Nowak was entitled to obtain a copy only of his personal data, Mr Nowak having asserted that he was entitled to access his personal data in its original or raw form.
IssuerCourt of Appeal
Judgement Number2018/140
StatusProceedings concluded.
UNAPPROVED
THE COURT OF APPEAL
Haughton J.
Ní Raifeartaigh J.
Binchy J.
Neutral Citation Number [2020] IECA 175
Appeal No. 2018/139
High Court Record No. 2014/89 CA
IN THE MATTER OF THE DATA PROTECTION ACTS, 1988 AND 2003
IN THE MATTER OF AN APPEAL PURSUANT TO SECTION 26
OF THE DATA PROTECTION ACTS, 1988 & 2003
BETWEEN/
PETER NOWAK
APPELLANT
- AND -
THE DATA PROTECTION COMMISSIONER
RESPONDENT
-AND-
THE INSTITUTE OF CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS IN IRELAND
NOTICE PARTY
- 2 -
Appeal No. 2018/140
High Court Record No. 2014/118 CA
IN THE MATTER OF THE DATA PROTECTION ACTS, 1988 AND 2003
IN THE MATTER OF AN APPEAL PURSUANT TO SECTION 26
OF THE DATA PROTECTION ACTS, 1988 & 2003
BETWEEN/
PETER NOWAK
APPELLANT
- AND -
THE DATA PROTECTION COMMISSIONER
RESPONDENT
-AND-
THE INSTITUTE OF CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS IN IRELAND
NOTICE PARTY
JUDGMENT of Mr. Justice Haughton delivered in the second appeal record no. 2018/140 on
the 1
st
day of July 2020
- 3 -
Introduction
1. This judgment relates to the second of the above entitled appeals. This is an appeal on a point
of law from a judgment of the High Court (Coffey J.) determining that the obligation on a data
controller (the Notice Party “ICAI”) to provide a data subject (the appellant) with personal data,
whether arising from section 4(1)(a)(iii) or section 4(9) of the Data Protection Acts, 1988 and 2003
(the “DP Acts”), does not extend to an obligation to provide the data in its original material form or
- in the case of a document - to provide the original of that document. The original documents at issue
are the appellant’s examination scripts arising from sitting accounting exams organised by ICAI for
accountancy students in 2009.
2. While the two appeals relate to different data and different points of law, common to both is
that the appellant and respondent are one and the same, they are both matters appealed pursuant to
s.26 of the Data Protection Act, 1988 (“the Act of 1988”) on points of law from the Circuit Court to
the High Court, with both orders being made in the High Court on 12 March 2018 and perfected on
29 March 2018; and both matters were further appealed under s.26 to this court and were listed
together and argued before this court on 5 May 2020.
3. Importantly the same general legal principles which are set out more fully in the judgment just
delivered by Binchy J in the first above entitled appeal (see paras. 24-28, where Binchy J sets out the
respondents submissions which were not, in respect of these legal principles, disputed – see also
para.52) also apply to this appeal. The relevant framework principles may be summarised as follows:
-
(1) Section 26(3)(b) of the Act of 1988 provides that where the Circuit Court has
determined an appeal from a decision made by the DPC there is a further app eal
available to the High Court limited to a point of law.

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