The right to rectification allows you to correct wrong information a company might have about you (e.g. name, date of birth, credit information) and to add missing information.
Inaccurate information may lead to many problems. It is particularly important when a company uses that information to make significant decisions about you, you are denied services because your data does not match or your data got confused with someone else.
How can I exercise the right to rectification?
- You can just send an informal message to the company or use a template
- Specify which incorrect data you want to rectify
- If you want to add missing information, you have to explain that this addition is relevant for processing your data
- You might have to provide evidence for the changes (e.g. certificate for a name change)
- You may want to request that the changes are forwarded to anyone that company has shared your data with
What are the consequences of the right to rectification?
The data must be corrected and this correction must be passed on to all recipients of that data.
Typical Problems
- The company states that rectification is not necessary, not possible or otherwise not doable.
- The evidence submitted by the data subject is rejected for various reasons.
- The company says it’s not possible to change data in their systems.
- The request involves costly hotlines and is therefore not free as foreseen by the GDPR (e.g for name changes on tickets)
Exercising your rights under the GDPR is simple and an informal email is sufficient in most cases. Still, there are some elements to keep in mind. Click here, if you are interested in helpful tips!