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Out-Law News 1 min. read

Entitlement Cards “exempt” from UK privacy law


The Government's consultation document Entitlement Cards and Identity Fraud "does not lead a properly constructed and informed public debate on the privacy implications of the entitlement card scheme," according to the editors of Data Protection & Privacy Practice in response to the Government's consultation.

Data Protection & Privacy Practice is a publication of Masons, the international law firm behind OUT-LAW.COM.

The Government's consultation on the new cards closes. Speaking about their evidence submitted to the Government, editor Dr Chris Pounder said:

"In our view, the Government's proposals amount to the granting of an exemption from major elements of the Data Protection Act for the entitlement card scheme. This exemption negates the protection afforded by five of the Act's eight data protection principles, leaves all existing disclosure gateways fully open (and unknown to the public), provides for new statutory disclosure gateways and permits the transfers of personal data from the scheme outside the European Economic Area.

We have also discovered that the document has serious omissions in relation to the privacy protection offered by data protection legislation – and we have listed these in our evidence."

"Consequently, we have concluded that we cannot support the introduction of an entitlement card scheme unless there is an informed debate on privacy matters or a substantial statutory improvement to the level of privacy protection associated with the scheme."

It is possible that the Government may ultimately oblige citizens to obtain an entitlement card and press ahead on the basis of the consultation document, without an informed debate on privacy matters.

Dr Pounder notes that, if this happens, it is likely that any future Government (whatever its political hue) will loose the trust of many its citizens, when it is realised that every interaction with the public and private sector which requires production of this card, will be electronically tagged as to date, time, location etc, and made available to numerous public authorities for a variety of purposes. This is especially the case in ethnic communities.

Dr Pounder concludes:

"If the entitlement card scheme goes ahead with the current level of privacy protection, the authors of this document recommend that readers who value their private and family life should not consent to any data sharing as proposed in the Cabinet Office's Report on Data Sharing."

Copies of the evidence can be obtained from [email protected]

To find out more about Data Protection & Privacy Practice, see this page of Masons.com.

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