What is Right of Access?

The right of access is one of the most commonly exercised data subject rights, established under Article 15 of the GDPR. It grants individuals the right to obtain confirmation from a data controller as to whether their personal data is being processed and, if so, to access the personal data along with information about the purposes of processing, the categories of data, the recipients, the retention period, and the source of the data.

This right exists in various forms across global privacy laws. Under the CCPA/CPRA, it manifests as the right to know, allowing consumers to request that businesses disclose the categories and specific pieces of personal information collected. Under the DPDPA, Data Principals have the right to obtain a summary of personal data being processed. Response timeframes vary by jurisdiction, from one month under the GDPR to 45 days under the CCPA.

Organizations must implement robust processes to verify requester identity, search across all data repositories, compile responsive data, and deliver it within the required timeframe. SearchIQ enables rapid cross-system searches for data subject information, while DiscoverIQ ensures no data stores are overlooked in the fulfillment process.