Professor Ray Murphy:

I agree on the GDPR issue. The GDPR is actually quite complex. We are all grappling with its full implications. There are some fundamental misunderstandings. The earlier session was quite enlightening in some ways. One of the key problems with the GDPR interpretation is that in certain circumstances data may be restricted if the release of this information would have an adverse impact on a third party. As a general principle of law, when one is restricting a right the restriction must be very narrow. As the data protection commission has pointed out there are clear rules and there must be very specific objective and narrow purpose to the restriction, and it has to be proportionate and necessary. In the past it has been interpreted very broadly: there may be an adverse impact so therefore we cannot release the information. In my view, and in the view of the experts, that is an erroneous interpretation of the GDPR. This is, in fact, an impediment to access to information rather than facilitating it.