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DMBM513160 - Customer contact and data security: Legislation and policy: Human Rights Act: How the Human Rights Act (HRA) affects you

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Remember we have looked at our legislation and procedures and they generally comply with HRA. This means that provided you follow current guidelines and procedures any customer challenge that you have breached human rights is unlikely to succeed.

In practice HRA should not have a major effect on your day to day work. Provided the actions you take to secure payment of debts and returns are balanced and proportionate (not using 'a sledgehammer to crack a walnut') they should not give cause for a valid HRA challenge.

In practice where you

  • act openly as an HMRC officer
  • take care to observe the normal rules concerning confidentiality and privacy
  • act in accordance with existing guidance

you should not be vulnerable to a successful challenge that you are acting in contravention of the HRA.