The Right of Access Under the Police Directive: Small Steps Forward

The present article sets out to examine the right of access under Directive 2016/680, which regulates the processing of personal data by EU Member States’ law enforcement authorities. The article analyses in detail the provisions on the right of access. More precisely, it looks at whether the right provides for sufficient transparency towards the data subject and whether its scope allows for a harmonized data protection across the law enforcement sector in the EU. The article concludes that while the provisions on the right of access make a significant step towards more transparency, they also suffer from deficiencies. Also, the limited scope of the Directive takes away from the harmonization attempts.