17.13 A few examples will suffice to indicate some of the main
approaches taken by other countries in determining the territorial
scope of their data protection laws.
The French law fixes legal
liability on data users involved in even the partial processing of
personal data (eg collection) within France. If the processing is
'
carried out by a foreign data user s agent (eg a computer bureau),
that agent must be identified in the declaration as the foreign data
s representative and as such is subject to the law. This ensures
'
user
that legal redress is always available against someone present
within the country.
17.14 The UK law focuses not on whether processing takes place
within that country, but on whether control over such data is
exercised within the UK. This may result in a broader territorial
sweep to the UK law, as compared with its French counterpart, in
that the UK law applies where control is exercised within the UK,
even if the processing is carried out elsewhere.
As regards
computer bureaus, however, the determining factor is whether the
processing is carried out in the UK.
17.15 A further variant is provided by the Netherlands law, whose
territorial scope is primarily determined by whether the file is
located within the country. Nugter points out that a consequence
of this diversity of approaches to territorial application is that of
potential overlap. A file located in the Netherlands and processed
in France by a computer bureau at the behest of a UK based data
controller will be subject to laws ofall three countries. Conversely,
the application ofdifferent tests may result in no law being applied.
28
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