New Guidance On Personal Data

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has recently published guidance on Determining what is personal data. The technical guidance note explains and illustrates the ICO’s view of what is personal data for the purposes of the Data Protection Act. Only data falling within the definition is subject to the rules of good information practice imposed by the Act.

Phil Jones, Assistant Commissioner at the ICO, said: “We have recognised for some time the need to provide more help to those who have to make difficult decisions on whether data is subject to the Data Protection Act. In many cases it will be obvious that data relates to, or is about, an individual. However, this is not always the case. The guidance relies heavily on examples to illustrate circumstances when data relates to an identifiable, living individual.”