What is a DSAR and what do I do if I receive one?

What is a DSAR?

A Data Subject Access Request or DSAR is the right of an individual to obtain records relating to their personal information held by a company or organisation. 

Data Subject Access Requests also help individuals understand how, why and when organisations use their data.

DSARs can be received from anyone, either verbally or in writing, if you hold their personal data. 

What should I do if I receive a DSAR?

If your company receives a DSAR, you are obliged to provide confirmation within one month of receipt that you are processing the request. 

You’ll need to provide a copy of any personal data you hold on the person, as well as other information, including:

• Purpose of personal data processing
• Third parties with whom the organisation is sharing personal data if any
• Categories of personal data the organisation is processing
• Source of data, (if the data is not collected from the individual)
• Data retention period or for how long will organisation keep data
• Information about automated decision making (including profiling)
• Information about their GDPR rights
• All relevant personal data that you hold on the person in question

Who should I send a DSAR to internally after I receive it?

If you receive a DSAR, one month is a very short timeframe to respond. 

The request should be sent to the relevant person in the organisation, most often your Data Protection Officer, to deal with as soon as possible.

How can Cleaver Fulton Rankin help with DSARs?

At Cleaver Fulton Rankin, we can assist you in responding to the DSAR by using the functionality of the legal technology software to search, filter and process large volumes of electronic data and reduce the document set for review. 

This will ensure you quickly and efficiently respond to the request within the specified timeframe.

If you’d like to find out more about how we can help with DSARs or any of our other eDiscovery solutions, just fill out the form below and a member of our team will be in touch.