John - my legal sources suggest that this (admittedly commonly-held) view is
not true. Whilst foreign embassies on British soil are certainly invioable
under the terms of the Diplomatic Privileges Act 1964 they are NOT the
territory of the relevant foreign power - this was established under British
law by "Chung Chi Cheung v The King [1939] AC 160".
Hence passing personal information to a foreign embassy based in this country
is NOT overseas transfer (though there are usually lots of good reasons not to
do so without consent in any case, I find!). Meanwhile, passing personal
information to a British embassy based abroad may or may not be overseas
transfer - I suppose its according to whether extant local law has established
the territorial status of foreign embassies - but I'd err on the side of
caution and consider it to be overseas transfer.
Andrew Okey
Lancaster DP Project
-----Original Message-----
From: J F Hitches [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 14 November 2002 11:30
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: FW: students from South India
Martin Rushall wrote
> Basic DP issues apart, does anyone have any views on the Eighth
> Principle and the peculiar national status of embassies and high
> commissions as posed by the scenario which a colleague has put to
> me below?
My understanding is that embassies and high commissions are based
on land which is considered the territory of the country to which
the embassy belongs.
So the Indian Embassy in London is actually in India while the
British High Commission in India is actually in Britain (and
therefore within the EU).
Thus a transfer to the British High Commission in India is not an
overseas transfer outside of the EU but a transfer to the Indian
Embassy in London is!
John F Hitches
General Administrative Manager
Kingston University
River House
53 / 57 High Street
Kingston Upon Thames
Surrey KT1 1LQ
Telephone 020 8547 7768
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