A Request in Any Wording

The organisation treats a request as valid whatever wording it uses.

Criterion: A5
Level: Level 1
Domain: Finding and Making a Request
Reflects: Article 12(2)

Intent

Most people do not know the phrase subject access request. Someone who asks in plain words for a copy of their data has made a request.

How to test it

An assessor scores the criterion against a single response:

Score 2: The organisation acted on the request as it was worded, without asking for it to be put in set terms.
Score 1: The organisation acted on the request, but first asked the person to resubmit it in particular words or to cite the law.
Score 0: The organisation did not act on the request because of the words it used, or because it did not cite the law.

The law it reflects

This criterion reflects Article 12(2) of the UK GDPR. That mapping is a guide, not a legal test: conformance is judged against the criterion, not the article.

See A5 in context in the full standard.