Introduction

The Data Protection Act is made up of eight, essential principles that all data-handling businesses must adhere to.

The main purpose of the eight principles is to protect the individuals whose personal data is being processed. They apply to everything you do with personal data, except in situations where you are entitled to an exemption as mentioned previously.

To give you a better understanding, each of the principles is outlined in more detail in this section, explaining their purpose and how they are relevant to the workplace.

Topics to be Covered

The topics covered in this section are:

• The eight principles
• Fair processing
• Obtaining information
• Keeping data
• Individual rights
• Data security
• Transferring outside the EEA