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PART VI |
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MISCELLANEOUS AND GENERAL |
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Functions of Commissioner |
| General duties of Commissioner. |
50. - (1) It shall be the duty of the Commissioner to promote the following of good practice by data controllers and, in particular, so to perform his functions under this Act as to promote the observance of the requirements of this Act by data controllers.
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(2) The Commissioner shall arrange for the dissemination in such form and manner as he considers appropriate of such information as it may appear to him expedient to give to the public about the operation of this Act, about good practice, and about other matters within the scope of his functions under this Act, and may give advice to any person as to any of those matters.
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(3) Where-
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(a) the Secretary of State so directs by order, or |
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(b) the Commissioner considers it appropriate to do so, |
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the Commissioner shall, after such consultation with trade associations, data subjects or persons representing data subjects as appears to him to be appropriate, prepare and disseminate to such persons as he considers appropriate codes of practice for guidance as to good practice.
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(4) The Commissioner shall also-
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(a) where he considers it appropriate to do so, encourage trade associations to prepare, and to disseminate to their members, such codes of practice, and |
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(b) where any trade association submits a code of practice to him for his consideration, consider the code and, after such consultation with data subjects or persons representing data subjects as appears to him to be appropriate, notify the trade association whether in his opinion the code promotes the following of good practice. |
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(5) An order under subsection (3) shall describe the personal data or processing to which the code of practice is to relate, and may also describe the persons or classes of persons to whom it is to relate.
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(6) The Commissioner shall arrange for the dissemination in such form and manner as he considers appropriate of-
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(a) any Community finding as defined by paragraph 16(2) of Part II of Schedule 1, |
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(b) any decision of the European Commission, under the procedure provided for in Article 31(2) of the Data Protection Directive, which is made for the purposes of Article 26(3) or (4) of the Directive, and |
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(c) such other information as it may appear to him to be expedient to give to data controllers in relation to any personal data about the protection of the rights and freedoms of data subjects in relation to the processing of personal data in countries and territories outside the European Economic Area. |
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(7) The Commissioner may, with the consent of the data controller, assess any processing of personal data for the observance of good practice and shall inform the data controller of the results of the assessment.
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(8) The Commissioner may charge such sums as he may with the consent of the Secretary of State determine for any services provided by the Commissioner by virtue of this Part.
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(9) In this section-
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"good practice" means such practice in the processing of personal data as appears to the Commissioner to be desirable having regard to the interests of data subjects and others, and includes (but is not limited to) compliance with the requirements of this Act; |
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"trade association" includes any body representing data controllers. |
| Reports and codes of practice to be laid before Parliament. |
51. - (1) The Commissioner shall lay annually before each House of Parliament a general report on the exercise of his functions under this Act.
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(2) The Commissioner may from time to time lay before each House of Parliament such other reports with respect to those functions as he thinks fit.
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(3) The Commissioner shall lay before each House of Parliament any code of practice prepared under section 50(3) for complying with a direction of the Secretary of State, unless the code is included in any report laid under subsection (1) or (2).
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| Assistance by Commissioner in cases involving processing for the special purposes. |
52. - (1) An individual who brings any proceedings under section 7(9), 9(4), 12 or 13(8) or by virtue of section 11 which relate to personal data processed for the special purposes may apply to the Commissioner for assistance in relation to those proceedings.
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(2) The Commissioner shall, as soon as reasonably practicable after receiving an application under subsection (1), consider it and decide whether and to what extent to grant it, but he shall not grant the application unless, in his opinion, the case involves a matter of substantial public importance.
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(3) If the Commissioner decides to provide assistance, he shall, as soon as reasonably practicable after making the decision, notify the applicant, stating the extent of the assistance to be provided.
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(4) If the Commissioner decides not to provide assistance, he shall, as soon as reasonably practicable after making the decision, notify the applicant of his decision and, if he thinks fit, the reasons for it.
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(5) In this section-
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(a) references to "proceedings" include references to prospective proceedings, and |
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(b) "applicant", in relation to assistance under this section, means an individual who applies for assistance. |
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(6) Schedule 10 has effect for supplementing this section.
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