Registrar to consult UK firms on Data Protection

NEWS Companies throughout the UK will be asked to help develop a code of practice on governing the use of personal staff data, according to Elizabeth France, the UK's Data Protection Registrar. In her 15th annual report, published this week, Elizabeth France announced that a draft version of the code is to be circulated nationwide for consultation amongst businesses. "The code is needed because although we've not had a lot of individual complaints, we've had lots of queries from employers," she said. "We've not given any collective advice to employers before. Now the Data Protection Act has given us the power to create codes of practice, we can be proactive rather than reactive," she added. The code will address sensitive issues such as email scanning, closed-circuit TV, aptitude testing, CV scanning and genetic tests. The report also broadly welcomes the government's 'Modernising Government' White Paper, but warns that data from the electoral register should be used with care. "There is a clear risk that practice is being led by IT rather than IT being a tool to meet properly defined objectives," France claimed. The 1998 Data Protection Act is due to be implemented on 1 March 2000.