03/02/2020
Privacy International v Secretary of State for Foreign And Commonwealth Affairs & Ors (Rev 2) [2016] UKIPTrib 15_110-CH (17 October 2016)
"A person who claims that a public authority has acted (or proposes to act) in a way which is made
unlawful by section 6(1) may—
(a) bring proceedings against the authority under this Act in the appropriate court or tribunal ...."
The DPA
22. Each of the Intelligence Services is a data controller (as defined in s. 1(1) of the DPA) in relation to
all the personal data that it holds. "Personal data" is defined in s.1(1) of the DPA as follows:
"data which relate to a living individual who can be identifiedi. from those data; or
ii. from those data and other information which is in the possession of, or is likely to come
into the possession of the data controller, and includes any expression of opinion about the
individual and any indication of the intentions of the data controller or any other person in
respect of the individual."
23. Insofar as the obtaining of an item of information by any of the Intelligence Services amounts to an
interference with Art. 8 rights, that item of information will in general amount to personal data.
24. Consequently as a data controller, the Respondents are in general required by s. 4(4) of the DPA to
comply with the data protection principles in Part I of Sch. 1 to the DPA. That obligation is subject to
ss. 27(1) and 28(1) of the DPA, which exempt personal data from (among other things) the data
protection principles if the exemption "is required for the purpose of safeguarding national security".
By s. 28(2) of the DPA, a Minister may certify that exemption from the data protection principles is so
required. Copies of the ministerial certificates for each of the Intelligence Services are available on
request. Those certificates certify that personal data that are processed in performance of the
Intelligence Services' functions are exempt from the first, second and eighth data protection principles
(and are also exempt in part from the sixth data protection principle). Thus the certificates do not
exempt the Intelligence Services from their obligation to comply with the fifth and seventh data
protection principles, which provide:
"5. Personal data processed for any purpose or purposes shall not be kept for longer than is necessary
for that purpose or those purposes. …
1 The term "processing" is broadly defined in s. 1(1) of the DPA to include (among other things),
obtaining, recording and using.
2 The content of the obligation imposed by the seventh data protection principle is further elaborated in
§§9-12 of Part II of Sch. 1 to the DPA.
7. Appropriate technical and organisational measures shall be taken against unauthorised or unlawful
processing of personal data and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, personal
data."
25. Accordingly, when the Respondents obtain any information which amounts to personal data, they
are obliged:
(a) not to keep that data for longer than is necessary having regard to the purposes for which they have
been obtained and are being retained / used; and
(b) to take appropriate technical and organisational measures to guard against unauthorised or unlawful
processing of the data in question and against accidental loss of the data in question.
The OSA
26. A member of the Intelligence Services commits an offence if "without lawful authority he discloses
any information, document or other article relating to security or intelligence which is or has been in
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