4. Information Commissioner

4.—

1. There is hereby established for the purposes of this Act an office to be known as the Information Commissioner, which shall be a body corporate to which the provisions of section 28 of the Interpretation Act applies.

2. The provisions of Part I of the First Schedule shall have effect as regards the constitution of the office of Information Commissioner.

3. The Commissioner shall perform the functions—

(a) conferred on the Commissioner under this Act; and

(b) such other functions as may be conferred on the Commissioner by the Access to Information Act.

4. For the purposes of this Act, the Commissioner shall act independently in the discharge of the functions of the Commissioner

and shall not be subject to the direction or control of any person or other entity, except as provided in subsection .

5. It shall be the duty of the Commissioner to—

(a) monitor compliance with this Act and any regulations made under this Act;

(b) give to the Minister such advice as the Commissioner considers appropriate, or as may be requested by the Minister, on any matter relating to the operation of this Act or otherwise for the protection of personal data;

(d) arrange for the dissemination, in such form and manner as the Commissioner considers appropriate, of such information as it may appear to the Commissioner expedient to give to the public about the operation of this Act, about good practice, and about other matters within the scope of the Commissioner’s functions under this Act, and the Commissioner may give advice to any person about any of those matters;

(e) prepare and disseminate, or direct the preparation and dissemination of, to such persons or other entities as the Commissioner considers appropriate, guidelines to be adhered to as good practice—

(i) where the Commissioner considers it appropriate; and

(ii) after such consultation with trade associations or persons representing data controllers, data subjects, or persons representing data subjects, or such other entities having an interest in the matter, as appears to the Commissioner to be appropriate;

(f) where the Commissioner considers it appropriate to do so—

(i) encourage trade associations to prepare, and to disseminate to their members, self-initiated guidelines; and

(ii) where any trade association submits self-initiated guidelines for the Commissioner’s consideration, consider the guidelines and, after such consultation with data subjects or persons representing data subjects, as appears to the Commissioner to be appropriate, notify the trade association whether in the Commissioner’s opinion the guidelines promote the following of good practice.

6. A direction under subsection (5)(e) shall—

(a) describe the personal data or processing to which the guidelines are to relate, and may also describe the persons or classes of persons to whom the guidelines are to relate;

(b) be directed to the appropriate regulatory authority having responsibility for the subject matter concerned; and

7. In determining the action required to discharge the duties imposed by subsection (5), the Commissioner may take account of any action taken to discharge the duty imposed by section 57 (data sharing code).

8. The Commissioner may, at the written request of the data controller concerned, assess any processing of personal data as to the following of good practice and shall inform the data controller of the results of the assessment.

9. The Commissioner may charge such fees as may be prescribed for any services provided by the Commissioner under subsection (8)

10. The Commissioner shall be subject to the oversight of the Data Protection Oversight Committee in accordance with Part II of the First Schedule.

11. Without prejudice to section 67, the Commissioner may intervene as a party in any proceedings before a court, in respect of any matter concerning the processing of personal data or the enforcement of any provision of this Act, other than proceedings for the prosecution of an offence.

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