
A party seeking to restrict another's commercial activities must consider whether such terms are normal in similar, factual and contractual circumstances.
‘Jabberwocky’ by Lewis Carroll, which features in his sequel to ‘Alice in Wonderland’ 'Through the Looking Glass', is called a nonsense poem but it has the curious quality of initially sounding, when it’s read out loud, like it actually makes sense until you start to listen to the words a little closer:
‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
…
‘Beware the Jabberwock, my son!’
I’ve had to look up an analysis of the poem to know that ‘brillig’ means ‘about 4 o’clock in the afternoon’ (I might start using that!) And apparently ‘slithy’ is a portmanteau of slimy and lithe.
What has that got to do with SARs?
The similarity between ‘Jabberwocky’ and a number of SARs clients have been receiving recently, is that reading these particular SARs can be the same experience as reading ‘Jabberwocky’;
This is often the case when SARs are being used as a tool to try and get to a certain piece of information (that may or may not exist) for various reasons.
Usually linked to complaints or disciplinary procedures, these SARs will often list the types of documents, or specific documents, they want, and name people they want to see emails from. At first glance, like ‘Jabberwocky’, it all makes sense and even seems to be helpful in fulfilling the request as it’s so prescriptive.
But then, you start to consider what is in those documents and emails, and wonder if they could/should be disclosed to the requestor; what about the privacy rights of other people, and exemptions for ongoing negotiations, for example?
So how does that help?
This is where I’ve seen people start to go around in circles, looking at the request, looking at the exemptions, looking at the request again. If this sounds familiar, then this is where you need to take a step back and look a few things up or speak to an objective adviser.
At this point, I always say ‘go back to basics’ and focus on what the law says about the right to Subject Access.
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Recital 63 states: “A data subject should have the right of access to personal data which have been collected concerning him or her, and to exercise that right easily and at reasonable intervals, in order to be aware of, and verify, the lawfulness of the processing.”
The right to Subject Access is not about obtaining documents, emails or anything else that someone thinks they would quite like to see, just in case it helps their complaint or disciplinary if the data contained within them isn’t their personal data. Even if a document does contain the requestor’s personal data, there are a number of reasons why either some or all, of its contents would be withheld from the SAR response.
Looking at the ICO’s detailed guidance on the right to access (in draft form at time of writing), gives us more of a steer on what should and shouldn’t be included in a SAR response. There’s no getting away from the fact the guidance is long (very long – 77 pages!) but it can be useful when working out what constitutes a subject’s ‘personal data’ and what is exempt from a SAR response, under the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018).
Top tips
There is no one-size-fits-all answer, but here are three top tips to help keep you focussed on responding to a SAR as the law requires, versus responding to a shopping list type SAR that confuses the matter:
It’s easy to be lulled into following instructions in a prescriptive SAR request, but don’t be afraid to take a step back, take a breath, and take another look at the context provided by the law. If we can help with that in any way, please contact the Data Protection Team, we are always happy to help.
Remember, ‘beware the Jabberwock, my son!’
Please contact Clare Paterson or the Data Protection team on DataProtection&InformationTeam@anthonycollins.com.
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