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£500,000 fines for serious data protection breaches

Issue 34 - February 2010

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The long-awaited penalties for serious data protection breaches have finally been approved by the government. Organisations responsible for major breaches of personal information security will face fines of up to £500,000 from April this year. Following a consultation in November last year the Ministry of Justice has laid two statutory instruments before Parliament to bring into force the Information Commissioner's power to impose fines of up to £500,000 for serious breaches of the Data Protection Act.  It follows years of campaigning by the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) who have produced statutory guidance about how it proposes to use this new power.