§ Mr. Neil HamiltonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will make a statement on the considerations underlying his decision no longer to oppose the EC draft data protection directive;
(2) what estimate he has made of the costs to British businesses of (a) implementing and (b) annually conforming to the provisions of the data protection directive;
(3) pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Colchester, North (Mr. Jenkin) of 14 February, Official Report, columns 585–87, if he will make a statement on the greater flexibility now obtaining in the application of the data protection directive to existing records held in paper filing systems; and what assessment he has made of the effect on the estimated costs of the directive to United Kingdom businesses of the amendments made to allay United Kingdom concerns.
§ Mr. Nicholas BakerThere is now more scope for member states to determine which categories of paper records are covered by the directive; a new transitional period of 12 years from the date of adoption of the directive within which existing paper records must be brought into compliance with certain provisions of the directive; and clarification that such action is not required for certain paper records even after the transitional period if disproportionate costs would be involved. The implementation costs are now likely to be significantly lower than those of implementing the directive in the form in which it was brought forward by the Commission in 1992.