Data Protection
Introduction
The Data Protection Act 1998 was brought into force on 1st March 2000 and works in two ways. It gives individuals certain rights. It also states that those who record and use personal information must be open about how the information is used and must follow the eight principles of 'good information handling'.
Principles
Anyone processing personal data must comply with the eight enforceable principles of good practice, which state that the data must be:
- Processed fairly and lawfully
- Processed for limited purposes
- Adequate, relevant and not excessive
- Accurate and up-to-date
- Not kept longer than necessary
- Processed in accordance with the data subject's rights
- Secure
- Not transferred to countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA) without adequate protection
Subject Access (one of the Rights of a Data Subject)
The Subject Access provisions of the Data Protection Act gives an individual the right to have a copy of any personal data held about them, subject to certain exemptions.
Section 7 of the Data Protection Act 1998 states that a "data subject" (the person about whom the personal data refers) is entitled, upon request, to be informed about whether or not personal data is held or processed about them.
Should you wish to know what information (if any) Gwent Police Authority holds about you, please contact us.
