Data Protection and Privacy Law

In the information technology age, protection of the rights of the individual is becoming more and more important and a business ignores the ever-increasing body of laws at its peril.

Navigating the sea of sometimes conflicting privacy regulations in a commercially effective way requires skill, knowledge and commercially sensitive handling.

Our data protection law service (DataProtect™) provides comprehensive data protection and privacy services designed to simplify this complex area of law and to ensure your business reduces the risk of falling foul of the laws and of damaging its reputation:

• data protection audits
• data protection compliance
• privacy policies
• US data privacy laws

The answer is: probably more than you realise. Increasingly, contracts require you to warrant that you comply with the Data Protection Act 1998 and in some cases you won't get the business unless you can prove it - typically by producing an independent Data Protection audit report. Also, breaches of the Act make your business look very unprofessional, expose you to negative publicity and can offend customers. Its onerous provisions have all kinds of effects on businesses: most are not at all obvious. Breaches carry hefty fines and in extreme cases your business can effectively be closed down.

Information on people is the lifeblood of most businesses and cannot survive without holding this information.

Kaltons Solicitors and Lawyers

Some examples of possible breaches of these complicated laws are:

• sending a marketing mail shot to former customers without their consent
• customer service personnel not trained to do proper security checks before answering a customer's queries about their file or account
• sharing your customer database with another company, even a sister company
• holding inaccurate or out-of-date information on people
• being a US-owned company and transferring employee details to the US HQ.

The list is endless; the lesson simple: you ignore the Act at your peril and at great risk.

Business compliance is straight forward and at relatively little cost. Whilst there is free information on the site of the Information Commissioner's Office (the body responsible for enforcement), it is quite complicated and time-consuming to work through and puts many people off: www.dataprotection.gov.uk.

For peace of mind, think about having a data protection compliance audit carried out. It need not cost much and could make a world of difference.

Other data protection related services include:

• data protection clauses for your employment contracts
• review of legal contracts to ensure compliance with the Act
• staff training in data protection issues, including issue-spotting.