Per Article 5 of the GDPR all personal data must be:
a) processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to individuals;
b) collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner that is incompatible with those purposes; further processing for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes shall not be considered to be incompatible with the initial purposes;
c) adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which they are processed;
d) accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date; every reasonable step must be taken to ensure that personal data that are inaccurate, having regard to the purposes for which they are processed, are erased or rectified without delay;
e) kept in a form which permits identification of data subjects for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the personal data are processed; personal data may be stored for longer periods insofar as the personal data will be processed solely for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes subject to implementation of the appropriate technical and organisational measures required by the GDPR in order to safeguard the rights and freedoms of individuals; and
f) processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the personal data, including protection against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage, using appropriate technical or organisational measures.
To process personal data you must have a valid lawful basis of which there are six available as per Article 6 of the GDPR:
- (a) Consent: the individual has given clear consent for you to process their personal data for a specific purpose.
- (b) Contract: the processing is necessary for a contract you have with the individual, or because they have asked you to take specific steps before entering into a contract.
- (c) Legal obligation: the processing is necessary for you to comply with the law (not including contractual obligations).
- (d) Vital interests: the processing is necessary to protect someone’s life.
- (e) Public task: the processing is necessary for you to perform a task in the public interest or for your official functions, and the task or function has a clear basis in law.
- (f) Legitimate interests: the processing is necessary for your legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of a third party unless there is a good reason to protect the individual’s personal data which overrides those legitimate interests. (This cannot apply if you are a public authority processing data to perform your official tasks.)
- The production’s relationships will determine the most appropriate basis and may differ dependent on the data being processed. Which basis you apply should be determined and documented prior to processing.
- All processing must be “necessary” to be lawful.
- You should have a privacy notice to document not only how data will be treated but which lawful basis applies. This is the case whether you are collecting personal data directly or from another source (e.g an Agent)
- Without a lawful basis the processing will be in breach of the GDPR.
To process special category personal data you must have an additional condition on top of the lawful basis since it is more sensitive and requires additional protection. There are ten conditions currently in the GDPR itself but there will be additional conditions and safeguards in the Data Protection Bill. You must determine which condition applies before processing data.
