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February 16 2015

Enforced Subject Access Requests to Be a Criminal Offence From 1 December 2014

On 1 December 2014, section 56 of the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) will be brought into force, which will make it a criminal offence to request an enforced subject access request. Currently, such requests can be used to reveal details of any criminal convictions that the individual has, which includes information to which employers would not otherwise have access. Both the Information Commissioner and the Disclosure and Barring Service have expressed concern that enforced subject access requests not only represent an abuse of an individual 's rights but also potentially undermine important public policies.