UK law
Court of Appeal holds that Parts 3 to 7 of Investigatory Powers Act 2016 is compatible with Articles 8 or 10 of ECHR or retained EU Law
In R (National Council for Civil Liberties) v Secretary
of State for the Home Department [2023] EWCA Civ 926, the National Council for Civil Liberties challenged if certain parts of the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 complied with Articles 8 and 10 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. They also challenged if certain provisions of the Act were compliant with provisions of retained EU law. The Court of Appeal dismissed the challenge to the lawfulness of bulk interception warrants and the specific handling of journalistic material. The court said that there were sufficient safeguards within the Act to prevent arbitrariness. There were also provisions which meant that the Act did not confer an unfettered discretion on the Home Secretary which was capable of abuse.
ICO issues reprimands to firm of solicitors and to recruitment company
The ICO has issued a reprimand to a solicitors firm for infringing Article 5(1)(f) of the UK GDPR, which requires that personal data is processed securely, and Article 32(1)(b) of the UK GDPR, which requires that appropriate measures are in place to ensure a level of security appropriate to the risk and to ensure the ongoing confidentially, integrity, availability and resilience of processing systems and services. The ICO has also issued a reprimand to a recruitment company for infringements of Article 5(1)(f) and 32(1)(b) of the UK GDPR. The organisation misconfigured a storage container, containing 12,000 records and relating to 3,000 workers, to be publicly accessible without any requirement to authenticate.
CMA publishes guidance on Horizontal Agreements
The CMA has published guidance explaining how it applies the Chapter I prohibition in the Competition Act 1998 to horizontal agreements, meaning agreements between actual or potential competitors. The guidance describes the application of the Competition Act 1998 (Specialisation Agreements Block Exemption) Order 2022 and the Competition Act 1998 (Research and Development Agreements Block Exemption) Order 2022. It also provides guidance on the application of the Chapter I prohibition in the Competition Act 1998 to other common types of horizontal agreements which are not covered by these two block exemptions.
EU law
Coimisiún na
Meán issues notice of Designation of Video-Sharing Platform Services as Category of Services
Coimisiún na Meán, in exercise of the powers and duties conferred on it by section 139E and section 139G of the Irish Broadcasting 2009 Act as amended and after consultation with the persons specified in section 139H of the Act has published a Notice designating as a category of relevant online services to which online safety codes may be applied the video-sharing platform services the provider of which is under the jurisdiction of the State. Under Section 139H(3) of the Act, this designation becomes effective at the end of the period of 28 days after the date of the Commission’s publication of the notice on its website. The date of publication of the Notice was 14 August 2023. The effective date of this designation is 11 September 2023.
