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ARTICLE · 22 JUNE 2026

Italian Data Protection Authority: Corporate E-Mail And Former Employee's Right Of Access

DL-Law Avvocati Giuslavoristi
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The Italian Data Protection Authority has ruled against a company that denied a former employee complete access to their corporate email account, clarifying that work-related emails constitute personal data under GDPR. The decision addresses the boundaries of employee data access rights and establishes that employers cannot arbitrarily obscure or withhold work-related correspondence without specific legal justification.

ItalyPrivacy
DL-LAW Avvocati Giuslavoristi
DL-LAW Avvocati Giuslavoristi

With decision no. 165/2026, the Italian Data Protection Authority sanctioned a company for denying a former employee full access to their corporate e-mail account and for retaining messages and internet logs without an adequate legal basis.

In the case examined by the Authority, following the termination of the employment relationship, the former employee requested a complete copy of their corporate e-mail account.

However, the company only provided messages deemed strictly personal, excluding those related to work activities and obscuring certain data without specific justification.

The Authority clarified that work-related e-mails also qualify as personal data of the account holder, in light of the definitions of “personal data” and “processing” set out inArticle 4 no. 1 e no. 2 of the GDPR, and must therefore be made accessible to the data subject.

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