Mike Ashley has won a comprehensive legal victory in a data protection dispute against HMRC following a 2-day trial at the High Court in London. Justice Heather Williams delivered a significant judgment in Michael Ashley v Commissioners for His Majesty's Revenue and Customs, addressing key issues concerning his claim that HMRC breached his subject access rights (SAR) under Article 15 of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) while engaged in a tax dispute.
After initially stating that Ashley's personal data were exempt from disclosure when HMRC did provide some information, Ashley claimed that the response was both incomplete and inadequate. Ahsley went on to argue that HMRC had failed to properly interpret his SAR, did not conduct sufficient searches for relevant information, misapplied the concept of personal data and the tax exemption, and did not present his personal data in a way that was clear and understandable. Justice Williams ruled in favour of Ashley on all these points.
The judgment offers important SAR guidance for practitioners and provides insight into the broader application and understanding of the term "personal data".
Additional commentary in The Telegraph (£).
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