Preparing For The GDPR: A First Look At The Irish Data Protection Bill

Last month, the Irish government published the General Scheme of the Data Protection Bill 2017 (the "Scheme"). This Scheme provides some insight into the Irish Government's legislative intent and approach towards those provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR") where Member States are afforded a margin of flexibility.

Overview

The Scheme provides a general overview of the various elements of the proposed legislation. It contains 95 Heads which are quite sparse in parts. As a result, there is a substantial legislative task ahead to build out the substance and have the Bill enacted as law in time for commencement of the GDPR in May 2018. There has been no indication from the Irish Government of a proposed timeline for the Bill or when the Bill will be presented to the Irish Parliament for approval.