In a judgment of 20 December 2017, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that a candidate's examination papers and any annotations of the examiner constitute personal data. As a result, the candidate has a right of access to his answers and to the examiner's annotations.
An Irish trainee accountant had failed a professional examination. Following the rejection of his complaint challenging the result, he asked the Association of Chartered Accountants to have access to all the information concerning him, on the basis of the protection of personal data.
The College had sent him certain documents but refused to send him his examination copy on the grounds that it did not contain personal data.
For the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), written answers given by a candidate during an examination and any annotations by the examiner relating to those answers constitute personal data. As such, the data subject has a right of access to his or her answers and to the examiner's annotations in order to verify that the data concerning him or her are accurate and that they are lawfully processed.
