Data Protection Act

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JOANNA MARZOUCA,
Associate at Myres, Fletcher & Gordon

Data Protection 101 for for MSME

May 24, 2022

What is Data Protection? What is Personal Information?
 Generally, data protection refers to strategies and processes used to safeguard the privacy and protection and integrity of data. 

 Personal Information is defined under the DPA as information (however stored) relating to a living individual, or an individual who has been deceased for less than 30 years, who can be identified from that information alone or from that information and other information in the possession of, or likely to come into the possession of, the data controller, and which includes any expression of opinion about that individual and any indication of the intentions of the data controller or any other person in respect of that individual.

A data controller is defined as any person or public authority, who, either alone or jointly or in common with other persons determines the purposes for which and the manner in which any personal data are, or are to be, processed, and where personal data is processed only for purposes for which they are required under any enactment to be processed, the person on whom the obligation to process the personal data is imposed by or under that enactment is for the purposes of this Act a data controller

Read the article

Email Correspondence with

David Grey,

Deputy Commissioner,
Office of the Information Commissioner

Section 2 of the Data Protection Act states “personal data” means information (however stored) –

(a) Relating to-

(i) A living individual; or

(ii) An individual who has been deceased for less than thirty years,

Who can be identified from that information alone or from that information and other information in the possession of, or likely to come into the possession of, the data controller; and…

The emphasis here is on however stored and therefore whether it is physical paper documents or documents stored by other means, once it relates to an in individual; or,

an individual deceased for less than 30 years and that information can by a combination of the factors above cause an identification to be made then it constitutes personal data.

I trust the above offers the clarity you seek and I can be contacted via the above email if there are any further queries.

Yours respectfully.
Deputy Commissioner

Office of the Information Commissioner

Read Jamaica's Data Protection Act (2020)