Vol. 325 No. 7
asked the Minister for Justice the reason Ireland did not sign the voluntary OECD Code on Data Protection and other issues relating to the privacy and freedom of the individual in terms of access to such data which was signed by the overwhelming majority of OECD countries as recorded in the OECD Observer, No. 107, November 1980; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
360.
asked the Minister for Justice if he will outline Ireland's position in relation to the signing of international agreements on the compilation and storage of data, the privacy of the individual, the question of access by the private citizen to data of a personal nature stored in data banks and other forms of storage; and if he will refer specifically to any Council of Europe or EEC regulations, codes or other agreements on these matters.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle I propose to take Questions Nos. 359 and 360 together.
A Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data will be opened for signature on 28 January 1981.
On 23 September 1980 the OECD adopted a Recommendation providing for Guidelines on the same subject. There are no EEC instruments in the matter. With regard to the signing of the Council of Europe convention, I would refer the Deputy to my reply to questions on this subject on 11 December when I explained that, in the absence of legislation, it would not be possible for Ireland to sign at this stage.
For the same reason, it was considered that the appropriate course to adopt in the voting on the OECD Recommendation was to abstain.
