Written answers

Tuesday, 23 May 2017

Department of Justice and Equality

Proposed Legislation

Photo of James LawlessJames Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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78. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if she will provide an overview of the general scheme of the Data Protection Bill. [24354/17]

Photo of Dara MurphyDara Murphy (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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The General Scheme of the Data Protection Bill is available on the website of the Department of Justice and Equality: www.justice.ie. It has also been forwarded to the Joint Committee on Justice and Equality for pre-legislative examination.

The principal objective of the draft Bill is to give further effect to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), i.e. Regulation(EU) 2016/679 of 27 April 2016, to transpose the law enforcement Data Protection Directive, i.e. Directive (EU) 2016/680 of 27 April 2016 into national law, and to equip the Data Protection Commissioner with the means to supervise and enforce application of the enhanced EU data protection standards in an efficient manner. The GDPR will take effect from 25 May 2018, and national law to give effect to the Directive should enter into effect at the same time.

While an EU Regulation is a directly applicable legal instrument and does not normally require any national law to give it legal effect, the GDPR contains a number of provisions which allow Member States a limited margin of flexibility. Part 3 of the draft Bill seeks to give further effect to the GDPR in a limited number of areas, mainly affecting the public sector, in which flexibility is permitted. In certain cases, this involves creation of a regulation-making power which will permit the making of detailed regulations. Part 4 seeks to give effect to the Directive’s provisions in national law. Part 6 contains Heads which respond to requirements in both the GDPR and Directive that individuals be permitted to seek vindication of their data protection rights through the courts rather than the supervisory authority.

With regard to the Data Protection Commissioner, Part 2 of the draft Bill contains provisions which would establish the Data Protection Commission to replace the Data Protection Commissioner. The primary function of the Commission would be to act as the supervisory authority for the purposes of the GDPR and the Directive. Replacing the Data Protection Commissioner with a Data Protection Commission is a future-proofing mechanism which will permit the appointment of more than one Commissioner should the need arise in the future. Part 5 contains provisions which are intended to equip the Commissioner, or the Commission in due course, with effective mechanisms and procedural safeguards in order to perform the tasks and exercise the powers set out in the GDPR and the Directive.

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