Section 9 of the Representation of the People Act 2000 makes specific
provision for electors to opt out of having their details included in a
register which can be sold for purposes not connected with elections (or
certain other purposes to be clearly defined in secondary legislation).
Each Electoral Registration Officer must produce two versions of the
register - a complete version to use for purposes related to elections, etc,
and a "commercial" version which excludes those electors who have opted out
of the general sale purpose. In future, forms used to compile electoral
registers must contain an opt-out clause to allow for this. I understand
the opt-out clause was supposed to be included in secondary legislation, but
that it is not available yet and canvassing for the first registers to be
compiled under the new Act has gone ahead without the opt-out.
Stuart Lynch
The contents of this e-mail are the personal view of the author and should
in no way be considered the official view of Wirral Metropolitan Borough
Council.
-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 07/09/2001 09:50
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Electoral Roll and Junk Mail etc
Interesting article in the news today:
"A TEST case was being launched today over the legality of local councils
selling information from electoral registers for commercial use. Brian
Robertson decided to bring the High Court challenge as he objects to the
loss
of privacy and the junk mail which results from the registers' contents
being
sold to various companies, as well as credit reference agencies. Because Mr
Robertson, of Pontefract, West Yorkshire, refuses to put his name on the
register he cannot vote. Today his lawyers are applying to Mr Justice
Maurice Kay for permission to seek judicial review, arguing that his
fundamental democratic right to vote has been violated by being made
conditional on him agreeing to have his name passed on for commercial
purposes, when the franchise should be an absolute right. The lawyers are
challenging Wakefield City Council's practice of passing on the personal
details of local voters without giving them the chance to opt out, saying it
breaches both human rights and data protection laws. "
Given the undeniable right we all have under the DPA and the EC Directive on
data protection to not have our data processed for direct marketing purposes
should we all add the following words to our Electoral Registration form
when
it arrives:
"This information is for election purposes only and should not be sold for
any commercial purposes"
or does the current UK law (Representation of the Peoples Act 2000) override
our rights?
Ian Buckland
MD
Keep IT Legal Ltd
Tel: 01246 473999
Fax: 01246 470742
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Website: www.keepitlegal.co.uk
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