General Data Protection Regulation
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the new legal framework in the EU which came into force on 25 May 2018. There is also a new Data Protection Act which fills in the gaps and will be read side by side with GDPR. The new Data Protection law provides new rights to individuals concerning their personal data. They are not in force yet so this page is to provide information in advance of the law changing.
The Council will ensure that your data is:
- processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner.
- collected is for a specific and legitimate purpose - it will not be used for anything other than this stated purpose.
- relevant and limited to whatever the requirements are for which they are processed.
- accurate, and where necessary, kept up to date. Any inaccuracies will be amended or removed without undue delay.
- stored for as long as required, as specified in the retention schedule.
- secured with appropriate solutions, which protect the data against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage.
The council will ensure that it meets the conditions necessary for processing personal data lawfully and will ensure this is adequately recorded. There are a number of ways that processing can be lawful. Consent is one method, but it is important to know that consent is not always required and the Council can lawfully process personal data as long as a condition is met. For example, the council would be unlikely to collect council tax arrears if residents could withdraw their consent for processing their data for this. You can find out more about the conditions on the ICO website.
Please note, this page may be updated in order to keep up with the latest guidance produced by the Information Commissioner’s Office.
What will this new law mean for me?
The rights that individuals have about how their personal data is handled and stored has been changed and enhanced. You can find out about the GDPR rights on the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) ICO website. You will have the right to know how the data has been processed and make requests, in certain circumstances.
What is Personal data and ‘special categories of personal data’
The new law will apply only to ‘personal data’. You can find out more about personal data and the new GDPR regulations on the ICO website. Special categories of personal data will be personal data that reveals racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership, or is about their health, sex life or sexual orientation and includes genetic and biometric data.
