Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 16 November 2016
79. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the rights of access a person has to original audio recordings that contain their personal data, as opposed to transcripts; and the recourse available to persons in cases where they believe transcripts of audio recordings provided by a data controller are incomplete if that data controller refuses to provide them with the original audio recordings. [35276/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe position is that Article 12 (Right of access) of the 1995 Data Protection Directive requires Member States to ensure that every data subject has the right to obtain from the data controller the communication to him or her of personal data undergoing processing in an intelligible form. The same Article provides that the data subject has the right to obtain the rectification, erasure or blocking of personal data where the processing does not comply with the requirements of the Directive, in particular because of the incomplete or inaccurate nature of the personal data concerned.
The access provisions have been transposed into domestic law in section 4 (Right of access) of the Data Protection Act 1988, as amended by the Data Protection (Amendment) Act 2003. It provides that an individual shall have the information constituting any personal data of which he or she is the data subject communicated to him or her in an intelligible form. The right to rectification, erasure or blocking of personal data is set out in section 6.
Responsibility for oversight and enforcement of data protection law is a matter for the Data Protection Commissioner who is independent in the exercise of his or her functions and powers under the 1988 Act. Any complaints in relation to data protection law should, therefore, be submitted to the Commissioner for investigation and any necessary action.
