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ARTICLE · 05 MARCH 2015

NGOs May Rely On UK's Journalism Exemption

Reed Smith (Worldwide)
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The UK Information Commissioner’s Officer stated that non-media organisations may rely on the special-purposes exemption for journalism in s32 of the Data Protection Act 1998, to withhold personal data in response to Data Subject Access Requests.

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Cynthia O'Donoghue
Cynthia O'Donoghue
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The UK Information Commissioner's Officer (the "ICO"), in a letter to Global Witness (in Steinmetz and others v Global Witness) (the "Letter"), stated that non-media organisations may rely on the special-purposes exemption for journalism in s32 of the Data Protection Act 1998 (the "DPA"), to withhold personal data in response to Data Subject Access Requests. This is the first time s32 of the DPA has been extended to non-media organisations.

In 2012, Global Witness – a non-governmental organisation – reported that four individuals at BSG Resources Ltd ("BSGR"), an international diversified mining company, had been involved in a bribery scandal leading to BSGR being assigned a licence for four blocks at Simandou iron ore mine in Guinea, West Africa (the "Simandou controversy").

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