Part 5: Data Protection and Privacy Enforcement Section 104: Court procedure in connection with subject access requests
Section 104 inserts new section 180A into the DPA 2018.
	New section 180A(1) establishes that section 180A applies in court proceedings to determine whether a data subject is entitled to information in response to a subject access request made under any of the UK’s data protection regimes or by virtue of the right to data portability.
	New section 180A(2) sets out that the court can require the controller to provide the court with the information in question. The controller must provide any requested information which would fall within scope of the rights as set out in section 180A(1).
	New section 180A(3) ensures that the court cannot require the information set out in subsection (1) to be disclosed to the data subject by any means until it has been determined that the data subject is entitled to it.
	New section 180A(4) states that the searches for information controllers must make when required to by the court do not need to go beyond the requirements of a reasonable and proportionate search for information when responding to a subject access request.
	The purpose of this provision is to ensure that courts in relevant cases may inspect material that has been withheld in response to a subject access request without the material having been disclosed to the data subject, when determining whether or not the material is exempt from disclosure. Similar provision was included in the Data Protection Act 1998 (section 15(2) of that Act). In X v The Transcription Agency and another [2023] EWHC 1092 (KB) the High Court rejected an argument that the absence of equivalent provision in the Data Protection 2018 (which repealed and replaced the 1998 Act) indicated that Parliament intended that courts should not be able to inspect the material in the absence of the claimant. New section 180A puts the position beyond doubt.