Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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499. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 115 of 30 May 2018, the process involved in drawing up the codes of conduct referred to in section 32 of the Data Protection Act 2018; the way in which all relevant stakeholders, including bodies that represent the interests of children, can make an appropriate input into its development and implementation; if a consultation will be opened on same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24934/18]

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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500. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality further to Question No. 115 of 30 May 2018, if he will meet an organisation (details supplied) in regard to drawing up the codes of conduct referred to in section 32 of the Data Protection Act 2018 in order that it can make an appropriate input into its development and implementation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24935/18]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 499 and 500 together.

The position is that section 32 of the Data Protection Act 2018 provides that the Data Protection Commission (DPC) shall encourage the drawing up of codes of conduct intended to contribute to the proper application of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) with regard to the protection of children, the information to be provided by a controller to children, the manner in which the consent of the holders of parental responsibility over a child is to be obtained for the purposes of Article 8 of the GDPR, integrating the necessary safeguards into the processing in order to protect the rights of children in an age-appropriate manner for the purposes of Article 25 of the GDPR and the processing of the personal data of children for the purposes of direct marketing and creating personality and user profiles.

In addition, section 32 provides that for the purpose of establishing whether a draft code provides sufficient appropriate safeguards, the DPC may consult with children and bodies who appear to the DPC to represent the interests of children, the holders of parental responsibility over children and the Ombudsman for Children.

The DPC - which acts with complete independence in the performance of its tasks and exercise of its powers - has advised that it has recently engaged with a number of stakeholders in the child protection and children’s rights areas and intends to carry out a public consultation around issues pertaining to the specific standards of data protection applicable to children and the rights of children as data subjects.

The DPC intends to involve children directly in this consultation. It will also invite responses from all stakeholders in this area, including amongst others, organisations which represent children’s rights, child protection organisations, representative bodies for parents and educators, as well as organisations that collect and process children’s data. This work will commence when the new school year starts in September 2018.

Arising from the consultation, the DPC will work with the industry, government and voluntary sector respondents and their representative bodies in a process to encourage the drawing up of a code of conduct to which entities which collect and process children’s data would demonstrably adhere.

It will be open to all interested parties to respond to the DPC public consultation process. As Minister for Justice and Equality, I do not have a role in relation to the drawing up or implementation of codes of conduct under section 32 of the Data Protection Act 2018.