The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner has concluded its investigation of the data protection issues arising from the sale of Dublin City Council's waste management business to Greyhound Recycling and Recovery. It was concluded that the core elements of the sale of the business did not breach the Data Protection Acts. However, the ODPC did note that, by notifying customers of their new service provider simultaneous to the completion of the sale but after the data transfer had occurred, it was not possible for the ODPC to come to the view that the "fair processing" requirements of the Data Protection Acts had been fully met by the Council in this instance.

On foot of the investigation, the Council also agreed to a number of undertakings before any debt collection data would be transferred from the Council to Greyhound. A more detailed note on the investigation is available on the ODPC website at www.dataprotection.ie.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.