Principal 4

Principal 4

4. Personal data shall be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date.

While the data is being used for the agreed purpose, it must be monitored for accuracy and must be correct at the time of collection and the time of use. The need to keep information up to date ceases once the purpose for which it was obtained comes to an end.

For example, the sports group wanting to send out a monthly newsletter will need to ensure that it keeps the database of members’ addresses up to date so they can continue to send mail.

On the other hand, if the sports group had made a one-off order for some new equipment, the equipment company would only need to collect the group’s payment information for the duration it took to fulfil the order. After this time, it would not be necessary to keep the sports group’s payment information up to date and they should remove it from their records if they have not obtained permission to keep it.