Nothing is as it seems. The exercise of access rights in Italy and Belgium: dispelling fallacies in the legal reasoning from the ‘law in theory’ to the ‘law in practice’

Abstract

The right of access to personal data is one of the most important rights of the data subject within the data protection architecture. Although it is spelled out in black and white in Directive 95/46/EC and the data protection acts of Member States, it is seldom exercised. This article investigates how access rights are exercised in Italy and Belgium from the perspective of the law in theory and of the law in practice, on the basis of desk and empirical research conducted in these countries. Experiences encountered in Italy and Belgium are indicative but telling about the exercise of the right of access to personal data. Fallacies in the legal reasoning emerge from a comparative analysis of these experiences, which trigger reflections on how surveillance is impacting on democratic rights and processes.