On 22 September 2020, the EDPS issued a decision on a complaint made by a candidate who was refused access to their personal data by an EU institution (EUI) during a selection procedure. The candidate, who was excluded from the process because of a conflict of interest, wanted to receive the Selection Board’s sub-score suggestions and observation notes from their participation in the preliminary stage of the competition, as well as the log files and audit trails related to the submitted application.
The EUI justified their decision based on three arguments. Claiming that the candidate’s disqualification meant that they could not have access to this information, the scores were not finalised and that such disclosure would undermine the Selection Boards’ confidential proceedings.
The EDPS considers that the assessment of the candidate’s performance by way of observationa notes and sub-score suggestions amounts to personal data relating to an identified person, and must therefore be given to them as long as they do not directly or indirectly identify any individual member of the Selection Board. In addition, the EDPS highlights that the candidate’s elimination from the process was not an eligible ground to prevent them from accessing their results.
Applying the Staff Regulation Article 6 of Annex III, the EDPS notes the importance of protecting the anonymity of the Selection Board members, at the same time, this reason cannot be invoked at the expense of the individual’s fundamental right to access their personal data.
Consequently, the EDPS proposes that an overall evaluation summarising the candidate’s scores, as well as the log files and audit trail, should be shared with them, without giving away the identity of those who were authorised to handle the complainant’s personal data.
edps.europa.eu
