July 20, 2020

In a blog piece accompanying the latest update from the ICO, the Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, emphasised the importance of regulators taking account of the larger social and economic context during the COVID-19 pandemic and said that it was right that the ICO had responded “pragmatically and empathetically”.

The ICO has kept its regulatory approach under review over the past few months. The updated document maintains the same approach, with small additions, for example to reflect the ICO’s ability to now be able to carry out audits remotely.

Ms Denham said that the emphasis on the value of privacy protections remains. She noted that privacy has been at the centre of considerations about several aspects of the responses throughout the UK to coronavirus, from contact tracing to easing of lockdown restrictions, and said that it was “clear that such protections will continue to be important to people as these responses to COVID-19 continue to evolve towards recovery from the pandemic”.

Ms Denham stressed the importance of considering information rights as part of businesses’ recovery plans, particularly considering how capacity can be brought back up to levels they were at before the pandemic, giving people full access to their data protection and freedom of information rights. To read Ms Denham’s blog piece in full and for a link to the updated regulatory approach, click here.