The Data Protection Act 2018 is an important piece of legislation that protects the private information of individuals and helps ensure it is used lawfully, fairly and transparently by businesses, organisations and Government. The Information Commissioner's Office is an independent regulator that upholds data privacy and rights related to information and takes action against non-compliant organisations.
Under the Act, which is the UK's complementary legislation to the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), you have the right to find out what information organisations store about you, including how it is used, have it updated or erased and stop it from being processed. If you would like to know more about your rights, please search: https://www.gov.uk/data-protection.
You may be interested to know that the Data Protection and Digital Information (No. 2) Bill, which was first introduced in 2022, has been improved and reintroduced. The new measures included in the Bill will introduce a simple, clear and business-friendly framework that will not be difficult or costly to implement – taking the best elements of GDPR and providing businesses with more flexibility about how they comply with the new data laws. Furthermore, it will ensure the UK's new regime maintains data adequacy with the EU, and wider international confidence in the UK’s comprehensive data protection standards. By reducing the amount of paperwork and supporting international trade without additional costs if they're already compliant, the changes will give organisations greater confidence about when they can process personal data without consent.
I am encouraged that these data reforms are expected to unlock £4.7 billion in savings for the UK economy over the next 10 years and maintain the UK’s internationally renowned data protection standards so businesses can continue to trade freely with global partners, including the EU.