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ARTICLE · 19 MARCH 2015

Enforced Subject Access Requests Now A Criminal Offence In The UK

Reed Smith (Worldwide)
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In September 2014 we reported on the UK’s intention to stamp out a practice commonly known as "enforced subject access requests".

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Cynthia O'Donoghue
Cynthia O'Donoghue
Katalina Bateman
Katalina Bateman
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In September 2014 we reported on the UK's intention to stamp out a practice commonly known as "enforced subject access requests". This concerned the previously dormant section 56 of the UK Data Protection Act 1998 ('DPA'), which, following an announcement from the Ministry of Justice, was implemented on March 10, 2015. Under this section, it is now a criminal offence for an entity to require an individual to submit a subject access request under section 7 of the DPA for his or her own protected personal data that the entity would otherwise be unable to access.

This will prevent employers from requiring a candidate or current employee to use his or her subject access rights under the DPA to obtain and then provide certain records to the employer as a condition of employment. By way of an example, this will affect those organisations that had been using enforced subject access requests submitted to the police to check individuals' criminal and other protected records

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