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Bill will introduce safeguards to prevent and detect
fraud, protect the freedom of the press, allow scientific
research and maintain the integrity of professional
sports
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Specifically includes measures to allow action against
terrorist financing, money laundering and child abuse
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Processing done for legitimate interests will be
allowed if it achieves a balance with individuals’
rights
The Data Protection Bill will make data protection laws fit for
the digital age in which an ever increasing amount of data is
being processed and empower people to take control of their data.
With individual data rights being strengthened, it is the
Government’s view that, as far as possible, existing lawful data
processing should be allowed to continue.
So the Bill assures specific UK businesses and organisations the
vital data processing they undertake for legal or public interest
reasons can continue uninterrupted.
It will preserve existing tailored exemptions that have worked
well in the Data Protection Act 1998, carrying them over to the
new law.
The government successfully negotiated these exemptions from the
EU’s General Data Protection Regulation to create a proportionate
data protection regime which is right for Britain.
, Minister of State for
Digital, said:
We are strengthening Britain’s data rules to make them fit for
the digital age in which we live and that means giving people
more control over their own data.
There are circumstances where the processing of data is vital
for our economy, our democracy and to protect us against
illegality. Today, as we publish the Data Protection Bill, I am
offering assurances to both the public and private sector that
we are protecting this important work.
The Bill will include exemptions for data processing in the
following areas:
- Processing of personal data by journalists for freedom of
expression and to expose wrongdoing is to be safeguarded
- Scientific and historical research organisations such as
museums and universities will be exempt from certain obligations
which would impair their core functions
- National bodies responsible for the fight against doping in
sport will continue to be able to process data to catch drug
cheats
- In the financial services sector, the pricing of risk or data
processing done on suspicion of terrorist financing or money
laundering will be protected
- Where it is justified, the Bill will allow the processing of
sensitive and criminal conviction data without consent, including
to allow employers to fulfil obligations of employment law
In its recent statement of
intent Government committed to updating and
strengthening data protection laws through the bill to provide
everyone with the confidence that their data will be managed
securely and safely. Research shows that more than 80 per cent of
people feel that they do not have complete control over their
data online.
Under the plans individuals will have more control over their
data by having the right to be forgotten and ask for their
personal data to be erased. This will also mean that people can
ask social media channels to delete information they posted in
their childhood. The reliance on default opt-out or pre-selected
‘tick boxes’, which are largely ignored, to give consent for
organisations to collect personal data will also become a thing
of the past.
Businesses will be supported to ensure they are able to manage
and secure data properly. The data protection regulator, the
Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), will be given more power
to defend consumer interests and issue higher fines, of up to £17
million or 4 per cent of global turnover, in cases of the most
serious data breaches.
Data protection rules will also be made clearer for those who
handle data but they will be made more accountable for the data
they process with the priority on personal privacy rights. Those
organisations carrying out high-risk data processing will be
obliged to carry out impact assessments to understand the risks
involved.
The Government has published a number of factsheets on the
Data Protection Bill.
