New ICO Data Sharing Code in force soon

The government laid the Data Sharing Code of Practice before Parliament on 18 May. It will now lay before Parliament for 40 sitting days before coming into force.

The new ICO code updates the 2011 Data Sharing Code in light of recent technological developments, as well as the type and amount of data collected.

Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, says in her foreword that the code will guide practitioners through the practical steps they need to take to share data while protecting people’s privacy. ‘We hope to dispel many of the misunderstandings about data sharing along the way’.

This is a statutory code of practice prepared under section 121 of the Data Protection Act 2018. The ICO will use the code in its work to assess controllers’ compliance through its audit programme and other activities.

It ties in with the government’s National Data Strategy, which aims at unlocking the value of data across the economy, and transforming the government’s use of data to drive efficiency and improve public services.

See:

• ICO - Data sharing: a code of practice
• Government response to the consultation on the National Data Strategy, 18 May 2021