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Changes to the notification fee structure set by the Data Protection Regulations 2009 have been laid before Parliament.
Provided they are confirmed in law, the new fees will apply to all register entries that fall for renewal from 1 October 2009 and all new notifications received on or after 1 October 2009.
Currently, the notification fee is the same for all data controllers regardless of their nature or size, unless they are exempt from the requirement to notify. The majority of the Commissioner's data protection resources are devoted to large data controllers and, despite an increased workload, there has not been an increase in the notification fee since the Data Protection Act 1998 came into force in 2000.
From 1 October 2009, notification fees will be tiered to more closely reflect the costs to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) of regulating data controllers of different sizes. The new arrangements will also ensure that the ICO has the necessary income to fulfil its current and expected future data protection responsibilities.
The two-tier structure will be based on organisation size and turnover.
A new notification fee of £500 will apply to data controllers with either:
* a turnover of £25.9M and 250 or more members of staff
or
* if they are a public authority, 250 or more members of staff
All other data controllers will remain in the lower-tier category, paying £35 per annum unless they are exempt.
The Government committed to changing the current notification fee structure from a flat to a tiered structure following a number of developments including the outcomes of the House of Commons Justice Committee Report on the Protection of Private Data, the Data Sharing Review and a public consultation run by the Ministry of Justice in 2008.
Registered charities and small occupational pension schemes will not come into the higher-tier, regardless of their size and turnover and will remain in the lower-tier unless exempt from the requirement to notify altogether.
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