The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has published a new statutory Code of Practice designed to help businesses and public sector bodies share people’s personal information appropriately.
The ICO’s Data Sharing Code of Practice covers both routine and one-off instances of data sharing, but points out that the code isn’t really about ‘sharing’ in the plain English sense. It’s more about different types of disclosure, often involving many organisations and very complex information chains; chains that grow ever longer, crossing organisational and even national boundaries.
The Code includes good practice advice aimed at all organisations that share personal information – such as a group of retailers exchanging information about former employees who were dismissed for stealing or two neighbouring health authorities sharing information about their employees for fraud prevention purposes. It also gives advice on when and how personal information can be shared, as well as how to keep it secure.
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