Court of Appeal of England and Wales (Civil Division) · 8 December 2003
Durant v Financial Services Authority
In plain English
An English court read 'personal data' narrowly: information must be biographical and focused on the person, so a document that merely mentions someone is not necessarily their personal data. This is a UK ruling on the Data Protection Act 1998, not EU case law; the EU Court of Justice has since taken a wider view (see Nowak).
What the court ruled
In short, it is information that affects his privacy, whether in his personal or family life, business or professional capacity.
Related
The official text is quoted word for word from the English version of the source named under it; only the version published in the court’s own records is authoritative. The plain-English line is Fino’s own summary, not legal advice.