Peter Nowak v Data Protection Commissioner [2017]

Mr Nowak was a trainee accountant who passed first level accountancy examinations and three second level examinations set by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ireland (‘the CAI’). However, Mr Nowak failed the Strategic Finance and Management Accounting examination, which allowed candidates to make use of documents (an open book examination).

After he had failed that examination for the fourth time, in the autumn of 2009, Mr Nowak submitted a challenge to the result of that examination. After that challenge was rejected in March 2010, he submitted, in May 2010, a data access request, under Section 4 of the data protection legislation, seeking all the personal data relating to him