PL&B UK E-news, Issue 63

1. Guidance on 'personal data' concept

The ICO, on 29 August, released a document on how to interpret the concept of ‘personal data’. The move follows the publication of a lengthy document on the topic by the EU Data Protection Working Party. UK organisations that have tried to get grips with the implications of the Durant case, were further challenged by this EU paper when it was published in June. Even though the ICO guidance is structured differently, the office believes that it is consistent with the approach taken by the Working Party.

Phil Jones, Assistant Commissioner at the ICO, said: “We have recognised for some time the need to provide more help to those who have to make difficult decisions on whether data is subject to the Data Protection Act. In many cases it will be obvious that data relates to, or is about, an individual. However, this is not always the case. The guidance relies heavily on examples to illustrate circumstances when data relates to an identifiable, living individual.”

Read more about this topic in the September issue of the PL&B UK Newsletter.

The ICO guidance can be found at: http://www.ico.gov.uk/

For further details on the Privacy Laws & Business UK Newsletter, please click here.

Copyright Privacy Laws & Business 2007