Recital 154
General Data Protection Regulation · UE 2016/679
| (154) | This Regulation allows the principle of public access to official documents to be taken into account when applying this Regulation. Public access to official documents may be considered to be in the public interest. Personal data in documents held by a public authority or a public body should be able to be publicly disclosed by that authority or body if the disclosure is provided for by Union or Member State law to which the public authority or public body is subject. Such laws should reconcile public access to official documents and the reuse of public sector information with the right to the protection of personal data and may therefore provide for the necessary reconciliation with the right to the protection of personal data pursuant to this Regulation. The reference to public authorities and bodies should in that context include all authorities or other bodies covered by Member State law on public access to documents. Directive 2003/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (14) leaves intact and in no way affects the level of protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data under the provisions of Union and Member State law, and in particular does not alter the obligations and rights set out in this Regulation. In particular, that Directive should not apply to documents to which access is excluded or restricted by virtue of the access regimes on the grounds of protection of personal data, and parts of documents accessible by virtue of those regimes which contain personal data the re-use of which has been provided for by law as being incompatible with the law concerning the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data. |
In Luxembourg, the reconciliation between access to official documents and data protection is governed by the law of 14 September 2018 on transparent and open administration, which transposes the principle of recital 154 and article 86 GDPR. The law provides that access is refused or restricted when disclosure would harm privacy or personal data protection, unless the data subject has consented or an overriding public interest applies. The CNPD oversees the balance, and the Commission d'acces aux documents issues opinions on refusals.
Luxgap practice: for any Luxembourg municipality, ministry or public body, systematically document the reconciliation test in a dedicated register before publication, and coordinate the DPO and the access-to-documents officer on a shared grid to avoid contradictory decisions.
