Data protection principles: good practice
- Personal data should be processed fairly and lawfully and people whose data you hold should be notified of what is being done with their data
- Personal data should be used only in accordance with the purposes for which is was collected
- Personal data held should be adequate, relevant and not excessive (and not just ‘in case it might be useful’)
- Personal data should be accurate and where necessary kept up to date, with individuals given the ability to update their data, or have it updated, including for marketing communications purposes
- Personal data should be kept for no longer than is necessary. You should develop a retention policy for personal data and ensure it is enforced.
- Personal data should be processed in accordance with the rights of data subjects. You should ensure that any requests from individuals for a copy of their data are responded to promptly and the data is provided in a timely manner.
- Appropriate technical and organisational measures should be established to protect the data from intrusion, wrongful sharing and other types of compromise
Definitions
- Personal data – information relating to a living individual.
- Data subject – the person about whom the data relates.
- Data subject access request – the right of an individual to request a copy of their data under a formal process and payment of a fee.
- Data controller – an organisation or body which uses personal data.
- Processing of personal data – storage, transfer, viewing, access, analysis of personal data.
- Notification – a formal process of notifying relevant parties by an organisation of the use of personal data.
- Sensitive personal data – data relating to religious or other beliefs, health, race, ethnicity, political views, trades union membership, criminal record.
Included
- Digital or electronic data (including CCTV images).
- Data in manual filing systems (paper-based systems), if it is considered to be a structured filing system. A relevant filing system is defined as “a manual file that is well indexed with marked tabs so a particular document within the file is very easy to find”.