Data Protection Act Registration

In the UK if a company stores details of any of their clients or customers on a database within their company confines they may by law register this particular activity. They need to do this in order to conform to the Data Protection Act which was brought into effect back in 1998.

The actual Data Protection Act registration is very simple and easy to complete and will only cost about £35.00 and will cover the company in question for a period of 2 years. Today any reputable solicitor in the UK who advises companies and businesses when first setting up will recommend that they complete this registration.

The Data Protection Act 1998 UK was brought into being in order to ensure that all personal information is handled properly to ensure that a person’s rights to privacy are protected. This particular applies to all businesses and companies that will hold personal information about those individuals who are alive whether it be in paper or electronic format. But in order to conform to this particular act each company must follow a set of guidelines relating to them handling such information.

The best way to check to see if you are actually required to register your business as part of the Data Protection Act 1998 UK is by contacting the helpline whose details can be found at http://www.ico.gov.uk/what_we_cover/data_protection/notification.aspx. It is also here where you can get hold of the notification form and you can either complete it online or print it off and then mail it to the address shown on the website.

However as with any online service there are some agencies that will fraudulently ask you to make payment to them in order to complete your registration. So if any agency requests you to make a payment to them of more than £35.00 to complete your Data Protection Act registration then avoid these services altogether. In fact what you should immediately do is contact your Local Trading Standards Office and inform them of the situation.

Finally it is important to remember that if a business fails to register or renew this particular document then they are committing a criminal offence. Therefore by law the Information Commissioner to who this information must be provided has the right to take action to enforce and ensure that business or company is in line with the guidelines that need to be followed. Further more if a business or company chooses not to comply with this notice then this can seriously effect not only a businesses reputation but also its profits. So it is important that all businesses take data protection act registration very seriously indeed.