Malta Data Protection Consulting : Chetcuti Cauchi Advocates : Data Protection Compliance IT Lawyers malta data protection data protection audits dpa data data protection unit protection law, audit, auditing, data, protection, compliance, security, unit i

Data Protection

NEWS:
DATA PROTECTION ACT: Closing Date for Notification

In terms of the Data Protection Act, whoever keeps or otherwise processes any personal data in relation to employees, clients, memberships or any other individual is obliged to notify the Commissioner for Data Protection accordingly by not later than the 15th April 2004. In case of difficulty, persons are obliged to contact the Office of the Commissioner. Failure to do so will render a persona liable to penalties as provided by the said Act.

Revised Fee Structure to the Data Protection Act - 13/04/2004

The Ministry for Information Technology and Investment announced Government has decided to review the fee structure of the Data Protection Act as well as to extend and simplify the notification process.

Notification Period & Annual Payment

The first amendment provides that the first period for notification and annual payment shall be of one year instead of nine months. Therefore the period for notification to the Commissioner has been extended from the 15th April 2004 (next Thursday) to the 14th July 2004 and the notification fee shall be for one year. This should enable persons who were till now "unaware" of the impending deadline to come into line with the law.

Fee

Following a thorough review of the Commission’s budget, a radical revision of the fee structure has been carried out. The tariff – previously based on the number of employees and varying from Lm 20 to Lm 1000 per year – has been changed to a flat fee of Lm 10 for all employers (independently of the number of persons employed) and no charge for persons who work on their own and therefore have no employees.

From a review of the latest available data supplied by the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner, it is evident that over 90% of firms and companies who fall under the Data Protection Act do not employ more than 5 persons each. Consequently, there is no reason why the fee structure should be based on employee numbers.

Moreover, since the original regulations were introduced only nine months ago, it is only fair that the new improved fee structure should be applied retroactively. Consequently, any payments made under the old fee structure will be reviewed in line with the new lower fees and the Data Protection Commissioner will be refunding the resulting difference.

Exceptions

Finally, certain exemptions from payment are being introduced. While the obligation for the notification of personal data according to law will be retained, some entities will be exempted from the annual payment of Lm10.

Our Data Protection Unit

The Maltese Data Protection Act

News