In a previous article we looked at the importance of a company carrying out a Data Protection Act registration. Below we now provide a summary of data protection act and the key points that any business owner should note.

Today any information we obtain from others of a personal nature when running a business should be done so not only lawfully but fairly as well. This is where the Data Protection Act 1998 UK assists. It ensures that all personal data whether it be in electronic or paper (manual) format is held in the right kind of system.

As well as all information being held in a safe and secure location the data held must be updated and should not be held for any longer than it is required. Therefore if you have customer who then chooses to stop using your services after a specified time period by law you are required to remove their information from your system.

It is vital that any business or company which is holding personal information of any nature must ensure that they have the right security measures in place. It is these security measures which will help to prevent others from gaining access to this information unlawfully. It also should help to prevent others who do not have authorisation from processing the information that the company holds. Such measures which companies should be including are that all the data if held electronically is encrypted and that all files should be regularly backed up. Plus it is important that all staff dealing with such information are provided with regular data protection training.

Another important factor that companies and businesses must take into consideration in relation to the personal information that they hold is that it can not be supplied to others without the express agreement of the individual concerned. Plus in the UK none of this information can be transferred to any country outside of the European Union unless a certain exemption applies. This also means that any information a company or business holds on a certain individual can not be published on the internet.

The main aim of the Data Protection Act 1998 UK is to protect the privacy of an individual and ensure that all personal information held on the many different databases today is kept safe and secure. Therefore it is vital that all businesses and companies are fully aware of what by law they are required to do in order to ensure that this information remains secure and safe at all times.

Hopefully the short summary of data protection act we have given above will help you to understand better exactly what it is and why it is so important. This is especially important with so many people now supplying their information to many businesses and companies over the internet.