Many organizations do not handle consumer access requests properly. This is according to research by the Consumers' Association. According to the law, companies must inform consumers within one month what data they have collected from someone. But a quarter does not meet that deadline or provides incorrect data.
Consumer Association researchers asked 100 organizations what personal data they had collected about them. A variety of institutions were surveyed for this purpose, including governments, service providers, charities and online stores. Of these, 26 organizations failed to provide the requested data properly within the legal deadline.
Four companies sent acknowledgements of receipt but did not otherwise respond. And 6 organizations gave only a general answer about what data they collect. Companies that did respond sometimes lacked important data. And the websites of AliExpress, Ikea, TikTok and Tuya gave an error message while filling out the form or downloading the data.
Seventeen organizations, including the Internal Revenue Service, Blokker and T-Mobile, supplied the information late. The Tax Office even took 54 days to process the request. It then sent only part of the requested data, accompanied by a half-accusation: "I am of the opinion that your request for inspection is formulated very generally.
T-Mobile even went wrong in 2 different ways. One time it delivered the data late and the other time it only gave a description of the type of data. In a response, most companies do put on the penitential rug and promise improvement.
Sandra Molenaar, Consumer Association director, is harsh in her assessment of the companies: 'The research shows that almost 5 years after the introduction of the AVG, many organizations are still unable to comply with their legal obligations. Even our own government is failing. This is really not acceptable and we will raise this with the Personal Data Authority and at the European level.
