Information Commissioner's Office definition

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The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)

The Information commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the UK’s independent regulator designed to uphold information rights, including data protection, electronic communications and freedom of information rights. This Practice Note sets out the ICO’s remit, its legislative framework, the complaints procedure and the sanctions available.What is the Information Commissioner’s Office?The ICO is a non-governmental body sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). The ICO is responsible (among other things) for the regulation of freedom of information and protection of personal data. Its mission is to uphold information rights in the public interest by offering guidance to citizens and organisations, rulings on eligible complaints, and by taking appropriate action when the law is broken. The ICO monitors and issues reports about the timeliness of organisations responding to freedom of information requests as well as the adoption and operation of the model publication scheme across the public sector whereby authorities commit to proactively publish certain information (eg policies and procedures, minutes of meetings, annual reports and financial information) as a matter of...

Sanctions and enforcement under the DPA 1998 [Archived]

ARCHIVED: This archived Practice Note provides information on the data protection regime before 25 May 2018 and reflects the position under the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA 1998). This Practice Note is for background information only and is not maintained.Information CommissionerThe DPA 1998 is enforced by the Information Commissioner and their officers at the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The Information Commissioner reports directly to Parliament. The Information Commissioner's duties are:•to promote good practice and observance of DPA 1998 by data controllers•to publish information and give advice•to develop codes of practice, and•international co-operation:◦with the European Commission and supervisory authorities in other European Economic Area (EEA) States◦in relation to international obligations of the UK, and◦in relation to the Council of Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal DataThe ICO has published a guide to data protection, intended to assist data controllers. Numerous other topic guides are also published by the ICO on its website on specific issues such as closed-circuit television (CCTV) use, data sharing and...