Exercising Access Rights in Belgium

This chapter outlines the experiences of attempting to exercise one’s right of access in Belgium. Using rich ethnographic examples, this chapter tests how easy or difficult it is for a data subject based in Belgium to obtain their personal data, firstly by locating the required information about organisations and their data controllers and secondly by submitting subject access requests to these organisations. The chapter reflects on the differences (if any) between public and private sector organisations in the process of responding to access requests as well as the role of the national Data Protection Authority in Belgium.