Manx government department fined over data breach

An Isle of Man government department has received the island's first fine for breaching data protection rules.

The Department of Home Affairs was fined £12,250 after it declined to fully respond to a request for personal data from an employee for five months.

Information commissioner Iain McDonald said the department had repeatedly failed to "comply with the fundamental right of access".

He said the penalty had been issued to dissuade future infringements.

The DHA has been asked to comment.

Under the island's General Data Protection Regulation legislation, which was introduced in 2018 and reflects European Union law, people have the right to access any information about themselves held by an organisation.

A maximum fine of £1m can be imposed for those who do not comply with requests.

The commissioner said the DHA first received a "straightforward, specific, focused and precise" request for information from the employee on 7 August 2019 but responded in a "piecemeal" fashion.

On 18 October a complaint was lodged and the DHA failed to provide the full data until 15 January.