ICO publishes new code of practice

On 7 October 2016, the ICO published a new code of practice that deals with the subject of how organisations should ensure transparency to individuals regarding the use of their personal data. The code got issued after an ICO survey had indicated that only one in four adults trusted businesses with their personal data and that too few organisations updated their privacy statements on a regular basis. With subjects such as Big Data, the Internet of Things and the digital single market becoming hot topics, it seems that awareness has increased, requiring privacy notices to be updated accordingly.

As such, the code recommends organisations to either produce a completely new privacy notice or work on the existing one by either further developing or evaluating it. Therefore, the code gives an overview of what is stipulated in the Data Protection Act and also looks ahead to the changes of the future GDPR and how to ensure transparency under the Regulation.