Durant v FSA – Court of Appeal's radical judgment on the Data Protection Act

✍ Scribed by Marcus Turle

• Book ID: 104321980
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2004
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 114 KB
• Volume: 20
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0267-3649
• DOI: 10.1016/s0267-3649(04)00023-8

✦ Synopsis

In the most important case since the Data Protection Act (DPA) 1998 came into force in March 2000, the Court of Appeal has significantly narrowed the scope of individuals' rights to access personal data. We are fortunate to have an authoritative judgment from the Court of Appeal which will establish important legal principles for us and there is now more guidance on what to think about before disclosing data relating to third parties. Marcus Turle, a technology lawyer at City law firm Field Fisher Waterhouse, reports.

The Durant v FSA case gives a pretty clear guide as to how data controllers should deal with subject access requests (SARs). Any manuals which companies have been relying on should now be torn up and rewritten. At best, continuing with the old procedures will lead to mistakes. At worst, data controllers will go to a lot more trouble than they need to -wasting thousands of pounds in the process. For those who don't yet have a manual, now is the time to write one.