Court of Appeal rules ICO acted lawfully in subject access request complaint litigation

The UK Information Commissioner has welcomed the Court of Appeal’s ruling on a long-running court battle over a subject access request complaint.

In a judgment published today, the court upheld an earlier High Court decision by Mr Justice Mostyn to dismiss a claim by Mr Ben Delo that the ICO had unlawfully failed to determine his complaint about a subject access request he had made to Wise Payments Limited.

The case raised important questions about how far the ICO has to go in investigating and reaching a decision on the merits of every complaint.

The ICO welcomes the Court of Appeal’s confirmation that the ICO has broad discretion in deciding the extent to which it investigates each complaint and is entitled to reach and express a view on the complaint, without necessarily determining whether there has been an infringement.

The ICO also welcomes the court’s decision that the ICO acted lawfully in deciding the outcome of Mr Delo’s complaint.

Information about what to expect when making a complaint to the ICO is available on our website, where we explain the possible outcomes.