The Gazette 1989

GAZETTE

APRIL 1 9 89

FORENSIC F A B L E S by o THE GREAT LAWYER WHO TOLD HIS AUDIENCE HOW TO DO IT A G R E AT Lawyer Once Attended a Banquet. He was the Principal Guest. The Great Lawyer's Hosts were Budding Members of the Bar who had Formed a Debating Society. They Desired to Pay Honour where Honour was Due and to Learn from One who had Arrived at the Top how the Trick was to be Done. The Great Lawyer, when Responding to the Toast of the Evening, Told them All About It. Individual Effort and Concentration, said the Great Lawyer, were the Only Things that Counted. There were Some, he Believed, who Thought that Luck was an Important Factor in Life. They were Wrong. He who Wished to Succeed must Work—Work—Work. He must Rise Early and Map Out his Day. He must be an Athlete in Strict Training. He must be a Sentry at his Post, Morning, Noon and Night. He must Serve One Master, and One Master Only—his Profession. The Great Lawyer Reminded them of the Emperor Napoleon's Observations on the Subject of Knapsacks and Batons, and Assured them that, if Only they would Fight the Good Fight, Each One of them might be a Marshal in the Army of the Law. And in a Moving Peroration the Great Lawyer Attributed his Own Success in Life to a Strict Adherence to the Maxims he was Expounding. In Point of Fact, the Great

breach has occurred he can issue an "enforcement notice" on the data controller or data processor concerned indicating what must be done to comply with the Act. A refusal or failure to comply with such a notice, without reasonable excgse, is an offence. The Commissioner can prohibit the transfer of personal data outside the jurisdiction in certain cases. He does this through the issue of a "prohibition notice". The provisions in the Act relating to the transfer of data correspond to those in Article 12 of the Convention. When applying them, the Commissioner must balance the interest of privacy against the desirability of facilitating inter- national transfers of data. Failure to comply with a prohibition notice without reasonable excuse is also an offence. The Data Protection Act creates a new branch of the law having its own particular concepts and terms. As stated, it will come into operation on 19 April 1989. To assist those affected by it a Guide to the Act, registration forms and guidance notes on how to complete them are available, on request, from the Office of the Commissioner, 74 St. Stephen's Green, Dublin 2. Tel. 01-789304. It is to be hoped that all those immediately involved with imple- menting the Act and its require- ments will co-operate to make it a success. It is the first privacy legislation to have been enacted by the Oireachtas and the advantages that can stem from it for data subjects, data controllers and data processors are considerable, both on the domestic and on the international plane. On the domestic plane, it establishes new individual rights and introduces new standards of data protection that will make for increased efficiency and cost saving in the management of computer systems, while on the international plane it has placed this country in the forefront of modern data protection legislation, a factor that can only benefit our international trade and business life, particularly in the information market. •

wholly or mainly in direct marketing or direct mailing, providing credit references or collecting debts, as well as any other data controllers who keep "sensitive" personal data, that is, data relating to racial origin, political opinions, religious or other beliefs, physical or mental health, sexual life or criminal convictions. If the only kind of sensitive personal health data kept by a data controller is health data kept in the ordinary course of personnel administration and not used for any other purpose, then he does not have to register - unless of course he comes under one of the other categories that have to do so. This exemption from registration, therefore, will not apply if, for example, a data controller has to register by virtue of being a public sector body required to do so. Data processors whose business consists wholly or partly in processing personal data on behalf of data controllers also have to register. Registration began on 9 January and will continue up to 19 April 1989, when the remaining pro- visions of the Act, with one or two exceptions, will come into force. Thereafter, any registrable person who has not registered will commit an offence while those who have registered will commit an offence if they knowingly deal with data otherwise than as indicated in their registered entry. Registration is subject to an annual fee of £100. Data controllers most likely to keep personal data relating to physical or mental health will include hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, doctors, dentists, phar- macists and insurance companies. Schools, colleges, educational establishments, barristers and solicitors may a/so have to register by virtue of their keeping "sensitive" personal information, as defined above, on computer. Enforcement of the Act is the responsibility, in the first instance, of the Commissioner, who is ap- pointed by the Government and is independent in the exercise of his functions. Appeals against his decisions lie to the Circuit Court. He is required to investigate complaints that the data protection provisions have been contravened and may do so also on his own initiative. If he is satisfied that a

I.awver had been Spoon-Fed by a Near Relative from the Day of his Call; he had Always Taken Things Easily and Done himself Well; he had made a Matrimonial Alliance which Furnished him with Abundant Cash; a Series of Unexpected Political Events had Floated him into a Government; and the Sudden Demise of an Important Personage on the Eve of his Party's Defeat at the Polls had Provided him with the Fat Job which he now Enjoyed. When the Great Lawyer Resumed his seat after Speaking for Forty-Five Minutes, his Innocent Hosts Cheered him to the Echo, and Went Home Grimly Determined to Follow in the Great Lawyer's Footsteps. Moral.—w the Right Thing. Reproduced with the permission of Butterworth Law Publishers Ltd. from Forensic Fables by O: complete edition available from Butterworth (Ireland) Ltd., 9 D'Olier Street, Dublin 2.

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