European Data Protection Day highlights paucity of UK Information Commissioner powers

2.34.31pm UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 28th Jan 2008

Today, January 28th 2008, is European Data Protection Day, which marks the signing over 25 years ago of the Convention of the Council of Europe (not an EU body) on the automatic processing of personal data.

Since its creation in 1981 this convention still remains the only binding international legal instrument on data protection covering police and criminal cooperation. The EU has a Data Protection Directive of 1995 which applies to data used for purposes other than security, but as EU data exchange and building of databases for border and crime control has accelerated, the European Parliament has pushed EU governments to agree modern privacy rules on data used for law enforcement purposes. They have so far failed to agree robust protections.

Commenting on the anniversary, Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP, Liberal Democrat European Justice Spokeswoman, said:

"This commemoration will hold only an ironic significance for the British public, since the lessons of recent data scandals have still not been learnt. The UK has the largest DNA database in the world, with nearly 4 million entries including those never charged and those acquitted. I am fighting to ensure that British people will not have their DNA passed around Europe like a cheap trading card.

"Despite various ambivalent noises from Gordon Brown, there is no sign that he understands that the monster scheme of ID cards and identity database is hopelessly compromised by the evident carelessness with which the UK government treats our personal information.

"I am calling on the European Commission to amend the 1995 directive so as to oblige governments as well as companies to inform their national data protection supervisor when a data protection breach occurs. Scandalously, at present the UK Information Commissioner has no effective tools to compel the notification of security breaches".

More information about the Lib Dem opposition to the NDNAD is available here: http://campaigns.libdems.org.uk/dna and about our opposition to ID cards and database here: http://www.libdems.org.uk/noidcards/

In response to the continued failure of the UK government to safeguard personal data, Sarah Ludford has written twice to EU justice Commissioner Franco Frattini to request a green paper on the adequacy of EU rules on data protection and data security, but Commissioner Frattini has declined her request.