Exercise your data rights · Works anywhere
Asking for your data to be erased
An organisation is keeping information about you although the relationship has ended. This letter asks for erasure, names what may have to stay and requires written confirmation.
This page gives the shape of a letter, the words that fit and the public references attached to it. It does not tell you what to do about a particular case, and it does not replace the opinion of a qualified professional. The blanks marked in the letter are for you to fill in.
When this letter fits
- A contract ended long ago and the organisation keeps writing, calling or holding the file.
- An account was closed and the data stayed behind.
- You gave your information for one specific purpose, and that purpose has been served.
When it does not fit
- You do not yet know what is being kept: the request for access comes first, otherwise the erasure covers what you imagine.
- The entry is wrong and you want it corrected, not deleted: the letter about correction is more effective, and a deleted entry sometimes leaves the mistake elsewhere.
- You only want to stop receiving marketing messages: a request to object to marketing is enough, and it is easier to obtain.
The letter, in full
The passages that are marked are the blanks to fill in. Paragraphs carrying a condition are written only in the case stated: the workshop does that sorting, or you do it by hand.
your town, the date
Subject: Request for erasure of data concerning me
Reference: your file number
Dear Sir or Madam,
relationship that has ended ended on date that relationship ended. I am asking you to erase the data concerning me that your organisation is still keeping.
If “What you are asking to have erased” is “All the data concerning me”My request covers all of that data.
If “What you are asking to have erased” is “A precise set of data”My request covers the following data: data you are after
If some of that data has to be kept because of an obligation binding on you, I am asking you to tell me which, for how long and on what basis, and to erase everything else.
If “Are you still receiving marketing messages” is “Yes”I am also asking you to stop sending me marketing messages immediately, in whatever form. That request is independent of the previous one and calls for no examination.
I am asking you to confirm the erasure to me in writing, with the date on which it was carried out, and to inform of this request the recipients that data was passed to.
If you consider that you cannot act on all or part of this request, I am asking you to tell me the reason in writing, together with the routes of complaint open to me.
I should be grateful for a reply before date by which you expect the reply.
This letter is being sent with proof of posting retained: it dates my request, and it is from that date that the time for replying runs.
Yours faithfully,
your first name and surname
Enclosures
- A copy of proof of identity, where the organisation has to satisfy itself who is asking.
- Proof that the relationship ended: the cancellation, the account closure, the final invoice.
- Nothing else: a request for erasure does not have to set out its reasons.
The questions to answer
- The relationship that has ended
What connected you to the organisation, and its reference.
Example: subscription contract no. 4471-C - The date that relationship ended
This is the date that makes keeping the data arguable: it deserves to be exact. - What you are asking to have erased
- All the data concerning me: Bearing in mind that an organisation sometimes has to keep certain records: the letter allows for that.
- A precise set of data: Easier to obtain, and harder to refuse wholesale.
- The data you are after If “What you are asking to have erased” is “A precise set of data”
Name it by category: contact details, browsing history, call recordings, internal notes.
Example: my telephone and postal contact details, and the customer service call recordings - Are you still receiving marketing messages
- Yes: The letter will add a request to stop them immediately, which does not depend on the erasure.
- No: Nothing to add.
- The date by which you expect the reply
A month from sending is the period set by most data protection regimes.
What to ask for, precisely
- Written confirmation of the erasure, with its date: an erasure announced on the telephone cannot be proved.
- The list of what is being kept in spite of the request, for how long and why: that is where vague answers hide.
- The recipients the data was passed to being informed.
- Marketing stopped straight away, separately: it does not depend on the examination of the erasure.
The documents to attach
- A copy of proof of identity, where the organisation has to satisfy itself who is asking.
- Proof that the relationship ended: the cancellation, the account closure, the final invoice.
- Nothing else: a request for erasure does not have to set out its reasons.
The deadline
A month from receipt is the period set by most data protection regimes. Two things to watch: complete erasure is rarely possible, because certain records have to be kept, and an organisation that refuses wholesale without saying which records or why has not answered the request.
After sending
- Keep the letter and the proof of posting, even after the erasure is confirmed: it is the only trace you have left afterwards.
- Check after a few weeks that the messages really have stopped.
- If data reappears after confirmation, the written confirmation becomes the main item in the next file.
The legal grounds
This template belongs to the universal core: it invokes no national law, so it has no legal reference to cite. Its strength lies elsewhere, in how precise the facts, the dates and the request are. If your country has a text that strengthens this step, it lives in a country module, separately and by name.