Data Protection Act 1998 comes into force

Implementation date: 1 March 2000

The Act replaces the Data Protection Act 1984 and implements in the UK the Data Protection Directive. The Act creates three fundamental obligations of notification, abiding by the data protection principles and observing the rights of data subjects. It created two periods of transitional relief that prevent it from coming fully into force on 1 March 2000. The first transitional relief period ends on 24 October 2001 and gives employees the right to access personal data held on them by employers. The second transitional relief period ends on 24 October 2007, when manual or paper-based records held in a 'relevant filing system' developed before 24 October 1998 must fully comply with the Act. The Act can be viewed on the OPSI website.
More from XpertHR on this item: IRS Employment Review; XpertHR reference manual