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ARTICLE · 11 MARCH 2015

Criminalising Enforced Subject Access … Continued … Delayed … But Now In Force!

MacRoberts
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In November last year, we issued an update stating that section 56 of the Data Protection Act 1998 (Section 56) would "shortly" be coming into force...

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Valerie Surgenor
Valerie Surgenor
David Gourlay
David Gourlay
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In November last year, we issued an update stating that section 56 of the Data Protection Act 1998 (Section 56) would "shortly" be coming into force to make it illegal for third parties to obtain and provide certain records as a condition of employment, accommodation or delivery of goods, facilities and / or services.

Only the "shortly" part of our update has not rung true as the Ministry of Justice delayed the previous enforcement date of 10 December 2014 due to a technical difficulty in finalising the document. Section 56 is now in force from today (10 March 2015) and enforced subject access is now illegal.

Enforced subject access typically occurs where a person wishes to see another individual's criminal record, but chooses not to use the established legal system operated by Disclosure Scotland, the Disclosure and Barring Service and Access Northern Ireland.

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