Seanad debates

Thursday, 22 March 2018

Data Protection Bill 2018: Report Stage

 

10:30 am

Photo of Lynn RuaneLynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I second the amendment. I thank the Minister for his time and for his engagement to date, especially on the issue of child protection as it relates to this amendment. It was raised in the Committee Stage debate on the legislation and it is great to see Government amendments in the area that I welcome overall. I am happy to see Government amendments Nos. 12 and 13, which allow for codes of conduct on how the data of children is processed. I will get to it in a few minutes. As Senator McDowell said, the issue is whether it has any teeth. The word "encouragement" is used instead of the word "require".

I welcome the review of the age of consent in amendment No. 9. It seems an appropriate response to many concerns. The right to be forgotten is also a welcome measure.

I am concerned that the data protection issues in my amendment No. 10 would still not be comprehensively addressed under the code of conduct system proposed in amendment No. 12. The fact the legislation only uses the word "encourage" as opposed to "require" is of concern. It would seem to make such codes optional instead of a duty. We want strong, rigorous regulation in this area. I would appreciate if the Minister could outline the enforcement mechanism to ensure data controllers prepare the codes of conducts. The word "encourage" does not fill me with confidence that the codes will be binding, accountable and enforceable. If the codes of conduct are broken by controllers, what will be the penalties? How will the State ensure that they are adhered to? In the UK counterpart to this Bill, an amendment has been tabled in the House of Lords to make the codes of conduct for data controllers a requirement rather than advised. Will the Minister explain why the word "encourage" and not "require" has been used? The UK could risk infringement proceedings as such a move goes beyond the text of the GDPR. Will the Government consider putting such a legal requirement on the data protection commission, making the regulation in this area stronger and more robust? What is there now is a good start. How does the Minister envisage it will work in practice? Where will oversight and enforcement responsibilities fall? Perhaps it is an issue that can be worked out further in the Dáil. The stronger move of making it unlawful for a data controller to process the data of children for commercial and marketing purposes as proposed in my amendment No. 9 will work as a stronger deterrent to the inappropriate uses of children's data. I will listen to the Minister with interest to decide what I will do with my amendments. Will he consider making some of the language a little bit stronger in his proposed amendment with regard to words such as "encourage"?

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