Vehicle Registration Data (Automated Searching and Exchange) Act 2018

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Citation: IR No. 5/2018
• Year: 2018

Number 5 of 2018
VEHICLE REGISTRATION DATA (AUTOMATED SEARCHING AND EXCHANGE) ACT 2018
CONTENTS
1. Interpretation
2. National contact point in State - vehicle registration data
3. Automated searching of vehicle registration data held in National Vehicle and Driver File
4. Automated searching of vehicle registration data held by designated states
5. Correction of inaccurate data and deletion of incorrectly supplied data
6. Recording of automated supply of personal data
7. Data Protection Commissioner’s functions
8. Application of Data Protection Act 1988
9. Duties of data controllers
10. Authorised officers
11. Short title and commencement
Acts Referred to
Data Protection Act 1988 (No. 25)
Finance Act 1992 (No. 9)
Finance Act 1993 (No. 13)
Finance Act 1994 (No. 13)
Finance Act 2003 (No. 3)
Number 5 of 2018
VEHICLE REGISTRATION DATA (AUTOMATED SEARCHING AND EXCHANGE) ACT 2018
An Act to give effect to Council Decision 2008/615/JHA of 23 June 20081 and Council Decision 2008/616/JHA of 23 June 20082 and the Agreement between the European Union and Iceland and Norway on the application of those two Council Decisions insofar as those Council Decisions or that Agreement concern cooperation in relation to automated searching of vehicle registration data and the exchange of such data by or between authorities which are responsible for the prevention, detection and investigation of criminal offences in the State, the other member states of the European Union and Iceland and Norway, and to provide for related matters.
[25th April, 2018]
Be it enacted by the Oireachtas as follows:
		Interpretation
1. (1) In this Act—
	“Agreement” means Agreement with Iceland and Norway;
	“Agreement with Iceland and Norway” means the Agreement between the European Union and Iceland and Norway on the application of certain provisions of the Council Decision and the Implementing Council Decision and the Annex thereto, done at Stockholm on 26 November 2009 and at Brussels on 30 November 20093 ;
	“authorised officer” means a person who is appointed under section 10 (1) to be an authorised officer for vehicle registration data for the purpose of this Act;
	“automated search” means direct on-line access to the automated files of another body where the response to the search is fully automated;
	“blocking”, in relation to personal data, means the marking of stored personal data with the aim of limiting their processing in the future;
	“Council Decision” means Council Decision 2008/615/JHA of 23 June 2008 on the stepping up of cross-border cooperation, particularly in combating terrorism and cross-border crime;
	“data controller” means a person who, either alone or with others, controls the contents and use of personal data;
	“data protection authority”, in relation to a designated state, means the authority in that designated state that is designated by that designated state to be the independent data protection authority of that designated state for the purposes of a European Union instrument or the Agreement;
	“data subject” means an individual who is the subject of personal data;
	“designated state” means a Member State (other than the State), Iceland or Norway;
	“European Union instrument or the Agreement” means the following European Union instruments or agreement, or provisions thereof, insofar as they concern cooperation in relation to—
	(a) automated searching of vehicle registration data, and
	(b) the exchange of such data,
	by or between authorities which are responsible for the prevention, detection and investigation of criminal offences in the State and designated states under—
	(i) the Council Decision and the Implementing Council Decision,
	(ii) the Agreement,
	or any of them, as the case may be;
	“Implementing Council Decision” means Council Decision 2008/616/JHA of 23 June 2008 on the implementation of Decision 2008/615/JHA on the stepping up of cross-border cooperation, particularly in combating terrorism and cross-border crime;
	“individual case” means the investigation or prosecution of an offence or offences arising from a single event, incident or circumstances, but includes a case where a search for more than one vehicle or owner or operator of a vehicle is required;
	“Minister” means Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport;
	“national contact point” means, in relation to a European Union instrument or the Agreement—
	(a) in the case of the State, the Minister, and
	(b) in the case of a designated state, the authority or person designated by that state as its national contact point;
	“National Vehicle and Driver File” means records established and maintained by the Minister under section 60 (as amended by section 86 of the Finance Act 1994 ) of the Finance Act 1993 ;
	“personal data” means data relating to an individual who can be identified either from the data or from the data in conjunction with other information in the possession of a data controller;
	“processing”, in relation to personal data, means any operation or set of operations which is performed upon personal data, whether or not by automatic means, such as collection, recording, organisation, storage, adaptation or alteration, sorting, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by supply, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment, combination, blocking, erasure or destruction of data and includes the sending or receiving of a receipt of a notification under section 3 (3) or 4 (2);
	“registration number” means—
	(a) in the case of a vehicle registered in the State under section 131 (as amended by section 102 of the Finance Act 2003 ) of the Finance Act 1992 , the identification number assigned to the vehicle under subsection (5) of that section, and
	(b) in the case of a vehicle registered in a designated state, the identification number assigned to the vehicle by that state;
	“vehicle registration data” means—
	(a) data relating to owners and operators of vehicles, and
	(b) data relating to vehicles,
	being—
	(i) in the case of the State, data held in the National Vehicle and Driver File, and
	(ii) in the case of a designated state, data held on its national vehicle registration database by whatever name called and however it is organised;
	“VIN”, in relation to a vehicle, means the vehicle identification number, that is to say, the fixed combination of characters assigned to a vehicle by the manufacturer, marked on the manufacturer’s plate and on the chassis, frame or other similar structure of the vehicle.
	(2) A word or expression that is used in this Act and also in a European Union instrument or the Agreement has, unless the context otherwise requires, the same meaning in this Act as it has in the European Union instrument or the Agreement.
		National contact point in State - vehicle registration data
2. The Minister is designated as the national contact point in relation to vehicle registration data for the purposes of this Act and shall perform in the State the functions of the national contact point provided for in a European Union instrument or the Agreement insofar as they concern cooperation in relation to automated searching of vehicle registration data and the exchange of such data.
		Automated searching of vehicle registration data held in National Vehicle and Driver File
3. (1) For the purpose of the prevention and the investigation of criminal offences in a designated state and in dealing with other offences coming within the jurisdiction of the courts or the public prosecution service of a searching designated state, as well as in maintaining public security, the national contact point in the State shall allow the national contact point of a designated state access to the National Vehicle and Driver File with power to conduct automated searches in an individual case in respect of vehicle registration data held in that File.
	(2) Automated searches of vehicle registration data held in the National Vehicle and Driver File under this section may be conducted only through the use of the full VIN or full registration number of a vehicle.
	(3) The national contact point in the State shall ensure that, following a search by the national contact point of a designated state, a reply is sent to that national contact point, in an automated manner, comprising—
	(a) where data are found—
	(i) a notification of the data, and
	(ii) notification that the data may be used only for the purposes for which the data have been supplied or for the purpose of logging and recording the supply of data for the purposes of the Council Decision,
	or
	(b) where data are not found, a notification to that effect.
	(4) In conducting an automated search under this section of data in the National Vehicle and Driver File, data supplied by the national contact point of a designated state in accordance with Article 12 of the Council Decision may be used by an authorised officer administering the file solely where this is necessary for the purpose of providing automated replies to search procedures and recording under section 6 .
	(5) Subject to section 6 , the data supplied by the national contact point of a designated state referred to in subsection (4), shall be deleted immediately following automated replies to...