Data Protection Act 2018 (Section 158(3)) Rules 2018

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Citation: IR SI 658/2018
• Year: 2018

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of 26th April, 2019.

We, being the panel nominated by the Chief Justice pursuant to section 158 (6) of the Data Protection Act 2018 , by virtue of the powers conferred on us by section 158(3) of the Data Protection Act 2018 , and being satisfied:

(i) that it is necessary to make Rules for the purpose of ensuring the effective application of restrictions of the rights and obligations provided for in—

(a) Articles 12 to 22 and Article 34, and Article 5 in so far as any of its provisions correspond to the rights and obligations in Articles 12 to 22, and

(b) sections 87, 90, 91, 92 and 93, and section 71 in so far as it relates to those sections;

and

(ii) that such restrictions, as applied by the Rules hereinafter mentioned, are necessary and proportionate to safeguard judicial independence and court proceedings,

do hereby make the following Rules.

Dated this 18th day of July 2018.

John A. Edwards

David Barniville

Marie Quirke

Citation and entry into force

1. These Rules, which may be cited as the Data Protection Act 2018 (Section 158(3)) Rules 2018, shall

(i) come into operation on, and

(ii) apply to the processing of personal data referred to in rule 3 which takes place on or after,

the 1st day of August 2018.

Interpretation

2. (1) In these Rules:

“2018 Act” means the Data Protection Act 2018 ;

“Assigned Judge” means the judge, appointed by the Chief Justice, competent for supervision of data processing operations of the Courts when acting in their judicial capacity, in accordance with section 157(1) of the 2018 Act;

“court record” includes any document or other material issued or received by a court and forming part of the file or record of the proceedings before the court but does not include notes taken by or for a judge, or communications with, by or on behalf of a judge performing a judicial function in respect of such proceedings and not intended by the judge to form part of such file or record;

“Courts Service” means the body established by section 4(1) of the Courts Service Act 1998 ;

“Data Protection Regulation” means Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation);

“proceedings” means proceedings before a court, and “civil proceedings” and “criminal proceedings” shall be construed accordingly.

(2) In these Rules, save as expressly provided otherwise, terms defined in the Data Protection Regulation shall have the meanings given to them in the Data Protection Regulation.

Scope

3. Save as otherwise provided in these Rules, these Rules shall apply to the processing of personal data by, for or on behalf of a court when acting in a judicial capacity and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing shall include the processing of:

(i) personal data

(a) delivered to or by a court, judge, court office or court officer, or

(b) held by a court, judge, court office or court officer, or

(c) issued by a court, judge, court office or court officer,

for the purposes of or in connection with proceedings, or the performance of a judicial function, or (as the case may be) the performance by a court officer in civil proceedings of limited functions of a judicial nature conferred on that officer by law, and which forms or will form part of a court record; and

(ii) personal data created or held by

(a) a judge or a court officer or other person performing functions under the direction of a judge, or

(b) a court officer performing limited functions of a judicial nature conferred on that officer by law or a court officer or other person performing functions under the direction of such officer,

for the purposes of or in connection with proceedings, or the performance of a judicial function, or (as the case may be) the performance in civil proceedings of limited functions of a judicial nature conferred by law, and which does not form part of a court record.

Restrictions

4. In accordance with section 158(1) of the 2018 Act and for the purposes of section 158(3) of the 2018 Act, save to the extent specified in rules 5 to 7 of these Rules, Articles 12 to 22 and 34 (and Article 5 in so far as its provisions correspond to the rights and obligations provided for in Articles 12 to 22) of the Data Protection Regulation and sections 87, 90, 91, 92 and 93, and section 71 insofar as it relates to those sections, of the 2018 Act shall not apply to the processing of any personal data referred to in rule 3 of these Rules.

Provision of Information

5. The following information specified in Articles 13 and 14 of the Data Protection Regulation and section 90 of the 2018 Act shall be made publicly available by way only of general notice published on behalf of the courts in their capacity as data controllers on the Courts Service website:

Where personal data are collected from the data subject

Article 13.1(a) of the Data Protection Regulation and section 90(2)(a) of the 2018 Act

(i) the identity of the controller, being the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, the High Court, the Circuit Court, the District Court or a Special Criminal Court, as the case may be;

Article 13.1(c) of the Data Protection Regulation and section 90(2)(c) and (f) of the 2018 Act

(ii) that personal data are processed by and on behalf of the courts for the purposes of the performance by the courts of their functions under the Constitution and law, as interpreted in the decisions of the courts, and the fact that the legal basis for such processing is provided for in the Constitution, in statute, (principally but without limitation the Courts of Justice Acts 1924 to 2014, the Courts (Supplemental Provisions) Acts 1961 to 2017 and, in the case of a Special Criminal Court, Part V of the Offences against the State Act 1939 ) and otherwise in law;

Article 13.1(e) of the Data Protection Regulation and section 90(2)(f) of the 2018 Act

(iii) that material comprised in a court record may be made available to a party to the proceedings concerned (or to that party’s legal representative) or to another person

(a) where statute (other than the 2018 Act) or rules of court so require or permit, or

(b) if applicable, where the practice of the court so permits, or

(c) for the purpose of facilitating the fair and accurate reporting of a hearing in the proceedings, to a bona fide member of the Press or broadcast media at the member’s request in accordance...