Shock As Information Commissioner Deems Data Protection Laws "Not Fit For Purpose"

Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner, claimed in a privacy conference in Cambridge on 8 July 2008 that Europe's data protection laws are "no longer fit for purpose". He described them as being increasingly seen as out of date, bureaucratic and excessively prescriptive. He accused the legislation of showing its age and failing to meet new challenges to privacy, particularly in regard to the transfer of personal details across international borders and the huge growth in personal information online.

He also revealed that his office has commissioned a research organisation, Rand Europe, to carry out a study of the strengths and weaknesses of the law which will be fed into a review being undertaken by the European Commission. This move comes as critics said that the prescriptive nature of privacy laws could unintentionally harm key areas of medical research for example or failing to provide sufficient protection for consumers in other areas.