Data Protection Act 2018

Processing of personal data where court is controller

159. (1) The Superior Courts Rules Committee may make processing rules in respect of personal data that are contained in a record of a superior court of record.

(2) The Circuit Court Rules Committee may make processing rules in respect of personal data that are contained in a record of the Circuit Court.

(3) The District Court Rules Committee may make processing rules in respect of personal data that are contained in a record of the District Court.

(4) The panel referred to in section 158 (6) may make processing rules in respect of personal data—

(a) that are not personal data to which subsection (1), (2) or (3) applies, and

(b) in respect of which a court, when acting in its judicial capacity, is a controller.

(5) Processing rules made under this section shall be binding on a processor of personal data in respect of which the rules are made.

(6) Processing rules made under subsection (4) shall be published in such manner (which may include publication on the website of the Courts Service) as the panel referred to in that subsection considers appropriate.

(7) Subject to subsection (8), a Committee referred to in subsection (1), (2) or (3) may make rules—

(a) authorising the disclosure, for the purpose of facilitating the fair and accurate reporting of the proceedings, to a bona fide member of the Press or broadcast media and at the member’s request, of information contained in a record of proceedings before a court for which the Committee is the rule-making authority, and

(b) prescribing any conditions subject to which such disclosure is to be made.

(8) Rules made under subsection (7)

(a) shall not apply to proceedings required by law to be held otherwise than in public, and

(b) shall apply subject to any order made or direction given by a court in the proceedings concerned.

(9) In this section, “processing rules”, in relation to personal data, means rules made for the purposes of Article 28(3) of the Data Protection Regulation and Article 22(3) of the Directive, governing the processing by a processor of the personal data.