Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

High Court: controllers can withhold DSAR documents from inspection under DPA 2018 Sch 2 para 16 pending entitlement ruling (Cole v Marlborough College)

Published on: 02 April 2025

Published by a LexisNexis Information Law expert

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Article summary

Cole v Marlborough College (incorporated by Royal Charter) [2024] EWHC 3575 (KB)

What are the practical implications of this case?

Although this was merely a case management hearing, the court reviewed earlier law (the Data Protection Act 1998), the current regime (the DPA 2018) and a prospective measure (the Data (Use and Access) Bill) to identify the proper principles for assessing exemptions when dealing with DSARs. In this matter, the College’s position drew on X v The Transcription Agency LLP [2023] EWHC 1092 (KB), asserting that, as a matter of principle, it was entitled to withhold documents from inspection. In X, the issue concerned whether the claimant should be given documents placed within closed bundles that were themselves being challenged. That issue arose because DPA 1998, s 15(2) contained an express rule permitting the court to examine documents holding the disputed information while withholding them from the applicant and their representatives. By contrast, the DPA 2018 contains no equivalent express text. The judge in X determined that, even in the absence of that wording in the DPA 2018, the claimant still was not entitled to...

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