DCU breaking the LAW? Possibly.

steo87

Hey,

Ya know how DCU charge €7.00 to get a copy of your exam results, and €14.00 to get two copies? Well this is breaking Data Protection law!

Hear me out......
Under the Data Protection Act you can make a request for any personal information held about you...this encurs a fee, of course, but this fee CANNOT be more than €6.35 (and this is regardless of how many copies you are looking for etc). Who do DCU think they are charging this much? Right I know it's only a difference of 0.65cent but it really pishes me off.

Basically my request for exam results is the same as making a request for personal information.....so the cost should be €6.35 regardless of whether I want two copies or not!

See:
http://www.dataprotection.ie/ViewDoc.asp?CatID=17&fn=/documents/rights/2d.htm&m=r

Ste.phen

I'm sure you can request that information under FOI, and they'll charge appropriately, and the data protection people in DCU will do it within the 40 days laid out in the law.

Or you can pay their (somewhat higher) fees, and they'll get the registry staff to do it right away, on headed paper.

H2G2

I think you have a very good point there... I bet its related to many other places and not just DCU!

BUT, from the Data Protection website...

Your right to obtain access to examination results and to see information relating to other people is also curtailed.

Basically my request for exam results is the same as making a request for personal information...

I suppose there could be a view on this from DCU which says they are not the same. Only one way to find out...

steo87

H2G2 wrote: »

I think you have a very good point there... I bet its related to many other places and not just DCU!

BUT, from the Data Protection website...



I suppose there could be a view on this from DCU which says they are not the same. Only one way to find out...

Yeah I emailed the reg. about it to see what they have to say. I know it seems like a lot of fuss but things like this really annoy me!

Oh and yeah the 40 day thing is a bit crappy!

robby^5

Well the government charges you €35 for a copy of your own birth cert.

Whenever you go to get a copy of something like a birth cert or exam results, it is usually confirmed that you've already received a hard copy of this information, so additional hard copies are printed at your own expense.

So, no DCU isn't breaking the law in any way shape or form.

DemocAnarchis

steo87 wrote: »

Hey,

Ya know how DCU charge €7.00 to get a copy of your exam results, and €14.00 to get two copies? Well this is breaking Data Protection law!

Hear me out......
Under the Data Protection Act you can make a request for any personal information held about you...this encurs a fee, of course, but this fee CANNOT be more than €6.35 (and this is regardless of how many copies you are looking for etc). Who do DCU think they are charging this much? Right I know it's only a difference of 0.65cent but it really pishes me off.

Basically my request for exam results is the same as making a request for personal information.....so the cost should be €6.35 regardless of whether I want two copies or not!

See:
http://www.dataprotection.ie/ViewDoc.asp?CatID=17&fn=/documents/rights/2d.htm&m=r

As your exam results are online, they are not charging you for personal information, they are charging for a hard copy of that information. As robby said, if you already recieved the information, regardless of format, they arent breaking any laws.

steo87

Hmmm i think i was drunk when i wrote this thread.....