CH186280 - Dishonest tax agents: publishing details of tax agent dishonest conduct: Human Rights Act and Data Protection Act: Data Protection Act 1998
The Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) builds on Article 8 of the Convention to ensure that public authorities and others do not infringe an individual’s right to privacy when they handle personal data.
Protection under the DPA only applies to living individuals. Although this does not include “legal persons” protected under the Human Rights Act, the personal data of individuals authorised to act on behalf of organisations protected by the Human Rights Act is protected under the DPA.
Personal data is any information that identifies an individual or enables the identity of an individual to be established.
There are eight data protection principles set out in the DPA. These include that the processing of personal data
- must be ‘lawful’ and ‘fair’
- shall not be excessive to the purpose for which it is processed, and
- shall not be kept any longer than is necessary.
If a provision offends Article 8 it will also offend the DPA because the core considerations are essentially the same.
CH186300 explains why FA12/SCH38 meets the DPA principles.