Rising Data Protection Act Costs
Recent proposals from the Ministry of Justice in the government's response to the Data Sharing Review suggest the Information Commissioner will receive greater powers and charge more for data protection registration.
As a result of a consultation, the Ministry of Justice has proposed tougher powers for the Information Commissioner including:
- monetary penalties for deliberate or reckless loss of data
- after a warrant has been served, require the provision of information required to determine compliance with the Data Protection Act
- impose a deadline and location for the provision of information necessary to assess compliance.
The ability to determine Data Protection Act compliance could be difficult for many web enabled processes if there are insufficient controls, monitoring and reporting. I've already found the potential compliance issue is a consideration now for current and new web project specifications.
It is also suggested that the current flat rate notification fee is replaced by tiered a fee structure based on size of organisation (similar to the bands defined in the European Union's Recommendation 2003/361/EC regarding the SME definition) so that businesses with more than 250 employees or with a turnover greater than about £26 million will receive the highest charges.
You can read the full proposals in the response document The Information Commissioner's Inspection Powers and Funding Arrangements under the Data Protection Act 1998 and related press release.
Posted on: 12 December 2008 at 07:25 hrs
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