COMMONS AMENDMENT (Hansard, 10 July 1998)

§ Lord Falconer of Thoroton

My Lords, I beg to move that the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 47. I shall also speak to the other amendments in this group.

Amendments Nos. 47 and 48 narrow the definition of the non-disclosure provisions. Disclosures of personal data are processing for the purposes of the Bill. They must therefore be made in conformity with the data protection principles. The directive and the Bill recognise that it may be necessary to make disclosures in certain circumstances where it is not possible to comply with the principles. The purpose of the non-disclosure exemptions in Part IV is to ensure that such disclosures may be made.

Clause 26(3) as it left this House defined the "non-disclosure provisions" as including all the data protection principles except the seventh principle—which relates to security—to the extent to which they are inconsistent with the disclosure in question. We realised that this went rather too far and meant that we would be providing exemptions from parts of the regime where the directive does not permit us to do so. The purpose of Amendments Nos. 47 and 48 is to bring the definition into line with the directive.

The other amendments in this group do a different, although related, job. Amendment No. 48 refers at paragraph (c) to Clause 12(1) to (3). This means that the non-disclosure exemptions are available in respect of Clause 12(1) to (3) but not Clause 12(4).

Clause 12(1) to (3) provides what amounts to a free-standing right to rectification, blocking, erasure or destruction of personal data on the ground of their inaccuracy. In that respect it complements the fourth data protection principle. Where exemptions are provided from the fourth principle, it is necessary also to provide exemption from Clause 12(1) to (3).

But Clause 12(4) does something different. It provides a general remedy of rectification etc., where damage has been suffered and there is a substantial risk of further contravention. In this respect, it complements the general remedial provisions of Clause 11.

1493 At present the Bill provides a number of exemptions from the whole of Clause 12. Where it does so, it is intended only to complement exemption from the fourth principle. There is no basis for disapplying the remedial provisions of Clause 12(4) in these cases.

The effect of these amendments is to remove Clause 12(4) from the scope of the exemption provided by a number of provisions in the Bill.