Right to rectification

What it is

The right to rectification is the right to obtain the immediate correction of inaccurate personal data, and the completion of incomplete data, held by a company or organisation.

It is one of the strongest rights in the GDPR because:

• it requires no particular justification, if the data is objectively wrong;
• the controller must act without undue delay;
• it applies to any inaccurate data, regardless of how it was collected.

How it differs from erasure

• Rectification: the data stays, but is corrected.
• Erasure: the data is deleted entirely.

In practice: if a company has misspelled your name, holds an old address of yours or wrong information about you, you can ask for it to be corrected straight away.

When it applies

The right to rectification typically applies in six situations.

1. Incorrect personal details

• Name or surname misspelled
• Wrong date or place of birth
• Outdated or incorrect address
• Phone number or email not up to date
• Incorrect tax code

Example: your name is Mario Rossi, but the company’s database lists you as “Mario Rosi”. Request a correction, attaching your ID card.

2. Inaccurate professional or academic data

• Educational qualification recorded incorrectly
• Wrong professional qualification
• Wrong current employer
• Work experience reported inaccurately
• Skills attributed to you by mistake

Example: LinkedIn shows that you work for company X, but you changed jobs six months ago. Request a correction with your new position.

3. Incorrect financial or credit data

• A non-existent default reported to credit bureaus (CRIF, Experian)
• Wrong debt amount
• Payments recorded as missed even though you paid them on time
• Credit rating calculated on wrong data
• Closed bank accounts still shown as open

Example: a credit bureau lists you as a “bad payer” for a €5,000 debt, but you have receipts proving you paid everything. Request immediate rectification, attaching the receipts.

4. Inaccurate health data

• Wrong or incomplete diagnosis in your medical records
• Allergies or conditions attributed to you by mistake
• Treatments shown as ongoing that you have completed
• Wrong blood type
• Incomplete or inaccurate medical history

Example: your medical records state that you are allergic to penicillin, but you are not. You risk being denied necessary treatment. Request an urgent correction.

5. Incomplete judicial data

• A newspaper article reports your arrest but not your subsequent acquittal
• A database shows criminal proceedings as open when they were dismissed
• A judgment reported only in part, without the final favourable outcome
• A criminal record not updated after the offence was extinguished

Example: a 2015 article reports your arrest for fraud. The proceedings were dismissed in 2017 (“the alleged offence did not occur”), but the article was never updated. You can request rectification (adding the outcome) or, alternatively, erasure (Art. 17).

6. Incomplete information that paints a distorted picture

• The positive outcome of proceedings is missing
• A partial work history makes some gaps look unjustified
• A negative review leaves out your clarifications
• The context needed to understand the situation is missing

Example: your bank’s database shows “3 unpaid mortgage instalments in 2020”. True, but it leaves out that you paid everything in 2021 after a deferral agreement. The information is technically true but incomplete and misleading. Ask for it to be completed.