On 19 March 2026, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) delivered an important judgment concerning data subject access requests (“DSARs”). In Brillen Rottler GmbH & Co. KG v TC (Case 526/24), the CJEU clarified when a DSAR may be considered “excessive” and an abuse of one’s data protection rights under Article 12(5) GDPR. The CJEU also clarified the limits of data subjects’ right to compensation under Article 82 GDPR.
Background
A data subject in Austria subscribed to the newsletter of a German optician (“the controller”), by entering his personal data in the registration form available on the company’s website, and consenting to the processing of this data. Just thirteen days later, the data subject submitted a DSAR under Article 15 GDPR. The DSAR was refused on the grounds that it was abusive under Article 12(5) GDPR, and the data subject claimed €1,000 in compensation for non-material damage suffered as a result of the DSAR refusal, pursuant to Article 82 GDPR. The