UK: Data Protection Bill

The new Data Protection Bill – which is necessary to implement the European Data Protection Directive – has been laid before Parliament. It will replace the Data Protection Act of 1984 over the next three years. The Direct Marketing Association of the UK has already given the new Bill a cautious welcome. One of the early fears of the industry was that list owners might have been required to obtain written permission from list names before making a list available to third parties. However, under the Directive and the new Bill this is not the case unless various sensitive data, clearly defined, is involved.