DSAR (Data Subject Access Request)

A Data Subject Access Request (DSAR) is a formal request made by an individual (data subject) to an organization (data controller) to access, receive a copy of, or obtain information about the personal data that the organization holds about them. DSARs are a fundamental right under major privacy regulations including GDPR (Article 15), Saudi PDPL, UAE PDPA, and CCPA. Under GDPR, organizations must respond to DSARs within 30 days (extendable by 60 days for complex requests). PDPL requires timely responses as specified by SDAIA implementing regulations. CCPA gives businesses 45 days to respond. When an individual submits a DSAR, the organization must provide: confirmation of whether personal data is being processed, a copy of the personal data, information about processing purposes, categories of data, recipients, retention periods, data sources, and the existence of automated decision-making. Organizations must also inform the data subject of their rights to rectification, erasure, restriction, and complaint to supervisory authorities. Managing DSARs is operationally challenging because personal data is typically spread across multiple systems — CRM, analytics, e-commerce platform, email marketing, customer support tools, and consent records. Manual DSAR processing can take days or weeks of employee time, with risk of missing data sources or deadlines. Automated DSAR tools address this by connecting to data sources, retrieving relevant personal data programmatically, generating compliant response packages, and tracking SLA deadlines. Arqam360's DSAR automation retrieves data from Arqam360 consent records, Shopify orders, Salla customer data, and connected integrations — assembling a compliant response package with SLA monitoring to ensure regulatory deadlines are met.