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Editorial [1999] PLBIRp 23; (1999) 49 Privacy Laws and Business International Report 1

Editorial

The Government has finally announced the implementation date for the UK Data Protection Act 1998. The new Act will come into force on 1st March 2000, together with the supporting secondary legislation. The Home Office Minister George Howarth announced the date on 12th July, saying that the Government decided to set a firm date now in order to give organisations time to prepare for the changes that the new law brings. On the other hand, it is unlikely that the secondary legislation will be ready much before that anyway. Nine draft orders have been published, but some of the difficult issues, such as extra categories for prior checking, have not yet been decided (p.14-15).

Another change that UK public sector data controllers need to know about, is the proposed Freedom of Information legislation. As the law would extend the subject access rights under the Data Protection Act, organisations will have to balance these two rights. (p.6-7).

On the international scene, the adequacy debate continues (p.10-11, 16). No decision on which are adequate countries has been made yet, but the EU Data Protection Working Party recommends that Switzerland should be regarded as providing adequate protection.

One more EU Member State, Finland, has implemented the Data Protection Directive. The Data Protection Ombudsman offers his views on the new law in this issue (p.3-4).

An issue that should concern everyone is internal training. We bring you ideas on how a UK-based charity organises its internal training (12-13). Training is also touched on in an interview with Sainsbury's data protection manager, who tells us how her organisation is preparing for the new UK law. (p.18-20).

Laura Linkomies, Associate Editor

PRIVACY LAWS & BUSINESS