The ICO report on Investigation into Data Protection Compliance in the Direct Marketing Data Broking Sector

27/10/2020


The ICO report on Investigation into Data Protection Compliance in the Direct Marketing Data Broking Sector

The report focuses on the Commissioner’s investigation into the offline marketing services of the data broking industry and, in particular, the activities of the UK’s three largest credit reference agencies (CRAs) within this industry; Experian Limited, Equifax Limited, and the relevant entities within the TransUnion group of companies (TransUnion International UK Limited and Callcredit Marketing Limited).


“Offline” marketing services, as referred to in this report, focus on providing marketing to individuals through methods other than the internet.


The ICO has notified all three organizations about its intention to take enforcement action against them in April 2019. Preliminary enforcement notices have been issued to all three CRAs


TransUnion and Equifax made improvements alongside the withdrawal of non-compliant products and services, which together brought both into compliance with the law. The ICO deemed unnecessary to issue enforcement notices to them.


Experian has made progress in improving its compliance with the data protection law, however, the ICO still had concerns with their processing of personal data and decided to issue Experian with an enforcement notice. The notice can be accessed here.


The full report can be accessed here.


Image by Pexels from Pixabay.