Code For Handling Personal Data Is Muddled, Says Lawyer

A code of conduct for handling personal data was launched in London yesterday. But the document is inconsistent on the need for consent when collecting personal data, according to a data protection expert. Sometimes consent is not necessary, he said.

The Personal Data Guardianship Code was published jointly by the British Computer Society and the Information Security Awareness Forum (ISAF) in response to the number of high profile data breaches in recent years. Its aim is to change the culture of organisations towards the handling of personal data.

According to its authors, the Code "follows on the success of the BCS petition objecting to the changes in the Coroners and Justice Bill which would have seen drastic changes to the way in which government departments could have used personal information."

In March the Ministry of Justice announced that, in response to criticism from many groups, it would scrap plans that featured in the draft legislation to allow Government departments to share citizens' personal information with each other and with the private sector.

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The new Code is intended to help organisations and the people in them who handle personal data to understand their individual responsibilities. It aims to promote best practice and provide 'common sense' guidance, and also lays out information for the data subject.

However, William Malcolm, a specialist in data protection law at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind OUT-LAW.COM, described the Code as muddled.