Monthly Archives: August 2018

Data Protection/Privacy Enforcement: July 2018

The summer period can often be a bit quitter than normal and that was certainly true in terms of the volume of data protection and privacy enforcement action published by the Information Commissioner’s Office (but not so much for me, which is why this month’s look at the previous month’s enforcement action is coming later in the month than usual). There were just three pieces of enforcement action published on the ICO’s website during the month of July: two monetary penalty notices and information relating to the prosecution of one business. The key points for this month’s blog post will not be unfamiliar to people who regularly read this feature.

Key Points

  • Remember that if you wish to directly market individuals by electronic mail (which includes SMS) then, unless you are able to avail yourself of the very limited “soft opt-in”, then you must have received (and be able to demonstrate that you have received) consent from the individual. The GDPR has not changed the rules around direct marketing by electronic means (or, indeed, by telephone). These forms of direct marketing continue to be governed by the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 (“PECR”).
  • It is the responsibility of the person instigating direct marketing by electronic means to satisfy themselves that the campaign they are about to embark upon is lawful. Companies engaged in direct marketing campaigns where the data has come from a third party should undertake adequate checks to ensure that they can lawfully market to the intended recipients.
  • When sending out bulk E-mails it is important to ensure that proper procedures are in place and followed. Not placing the E-mail addresses into the “BCC” field is a fairly common error, which can be costly to an organisation (both in terms of the financial cost as well as reputation). If sending out bulk E-mails is going to be necessary, it may be worthwhile looking at investing in products and services which help to ensure that the personal data of the recipients is kept safe and secure.
  • It is important to ensure that data controllers comply with the terms of Information Notices served on them by the Commissioner. While it is no longer a criminal offence to fail to comply with an Information Notices (if it is served under the Data Protection Act 2018); the Commissioner can issue persons upon whom they are served with administrative fines should they fail to comply.
  • Notification is no longer required under the General Data Protection Regulation, but domestic law still requires data controllers (unless they fall into an exempt category) to pay a fee. The Commissioner has the power to issue a fixed penalty to controllers who have not paid a fee when they should have.

Enforcement action published during the month of July 2018

STS Commercial Limited
STS Commercial Limited, a welsh-based company, was served with a Monetary Penalty Notice in the sum of £60,000 [pdf] after it sent direct marketing by text message to over 270,000 people in contravention of Regulation 22 of PECR. The company was reliant upon consent which had been provided to a third party and carried out no due diligence of its own to ascertain that the consent met the requirements of PECR.

Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sex abuse was established by the Government to conduct an independent investigation into historic child sexual abuse. The Inquiry was served with a monetary penalty notice by the Information Commissioner in the amount of £200,000 [pdf] after it revealed the identities of abuse victims in a mass E-mail. The incident occurred after a member of the Inquiries staff entered the E-mail addresses of victims and survivors into the “to” field, instead of the “bcc” filed on more than one occasion. Each recipient of the E-mail therefore see the E-mail addresses of every other recipient, some of which contained the full name of the recipient (while others contained a partial name).

Prosecutions
Noble Design and Technology (based in Telford, Shropshire), was prosecuted by the Information Commissioner after it failed to comply with the terms of an Information Notice. The company had also failed to notify with the Information Commissioner, despite being required to do so. The company was convicted in its absence at Telford Magistrates’ Court and was fined £2,000 for failing to comply with an Information Notice. The company was also fined £2,500 for processing personal data without having notified (when it should have) and was also ordered to pay prosecution costs of £364.08 and a victim surcharge of £170.

Alistair Sloan

If you require advice and assistance in connection with any of the data protection/privacy issues above, or any other Information Law matter, please do contact Alistair Sloan on 0141 229 0880 or by sending him an E-mail directly.  You can also follow our dedicated information law twitter account.

Privacy and Data Protection: director disqualified

In September 2017 the Information Commissioner served a Monetary Penalty Notice on Easyleads Limited in the amount of £260,000 [pdf]; the company was also served with an Enforcement Notice by the Commissioner requiring the company to comply with the terms of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 [pdf]. It has since transpired that the company never paid the monetary penalty notice and the Information Commissioner petitioned the court to have the company wound-up. It is not unheard of for monetary penalty notices served by the Commissioner to go unpaid; however, where they do it is often because the company goes into liquidation. A copy of the order winding the company up following the petition by the Information Commissioner [pdf] can be found on the Companies House website.

What is interesting about this case though is an announcement by the Insolvency Service that the Secretary of State had accepted a disqualification undertaking from Shaun Harkin, the director of Easyleads Limited. The effect of the undertaking is to ban Mr. Harkin from “directly or indirectly becoming involved, without the permission of the court, in the promotion, formation or management of a company for six years”.

The announcement from the insolvency Service explains that the reason Mr Harkin is now banned from being a director of a company for 6 years is because he failed to ensure that the company complied with its statutory obligations, specifically that he failed to ensure that the company complied with the requirements of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 around undertaking direct marketing by telephone.

This is an important announcement from the Insolvency Service; it demonstrates that the effects of failing to comply with data protection and privacy law can be wide-ranging. There is the potential for directors running companies which fail to comply with data protection and privacy law facing being banned from being involved in the formation or management of companies for a not insignificant period of time. It remains to be seen whether this sort of action becomes much more frequent and it is not something that is directly in the control of the Information Commissioner herself, but if the Insolvency Service is starting to take seriously breaches of data protection and privacy law by companies and looking to disqualify directors (where it can within the parameters of the law) then this is clearly something that those involved in the formation and management of limited companies ought to bear in mind when considering data protection and privacy compliance.

Alistair Sloan

If you require advice or assistance on a matter relating to data protection or privacy law then you can contact Alistair Sloan on 0141 229 0880 or send him an E-mail. You can also follow our twitter account dedicated to information law matters.