HL Deb 14 May 1998 vol 589 cc127-8WA
Viscount Astor

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will publish details of their proposals under the Data Protection Bill regarding arrangements for processing which is already under way and details of transitional relief provisions. [HL1809]

Lord Williams of Mostyn

Schedule 8 to the Data Protection Bill provides that personal data subject to "processing already under way" immediately before 24 October this year are eligible for transitional relief at any time up to 23 October 2001. The Government believe that this expression includes, among other things:

  • amendments to existing personal data;
  • the addition of personal data on existing data subjects;
  • the addition of personal data on new data subjects;
  • essential program and software changes to enable such processing to continue.

For manual data where processing was already under way immediately before 24 October 1998, the special transitional exemptions continue after 23 October 2001 until 23 October 2007.