Processing personal data and the data protection directive

The European Data Protection Directive will transform data protection law. It seeks to protect fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals, particularly with respect to their personal data, whilst breaking down national barriers to the free movement of personal data within the European Community. Reconciling these twin aims has not been easy and a balance has been achieved that should do much to secure individuals’ rights and freedoms without imposing unacceptable burdens on organizations in both the public and private sectors. Major issues dealt with by the Directive include the provision of greater information to data subjects, controls over the processing of sensitive data and automated individual decisions, contractual guarantees from processors and the extension of data protection law to manual records. This article examines the regime of data protection as provided for in the Directive and considers how the Directive is likely to be implemented in the UK.