Definition of Agent, Law of Agency & Data Protection

ramesi

What is the correct legal definition of the word agent in data protection law?

Does the "Law of Agency" provide the legal definition of the word "Agent", so that whenever the term agent is used, it is generally understood to come under the law of agency, regardless of whether its business, contract or any other form of law?

Or does Agent have some other meaning, where under contract law its taken to mean the Law of Agency, but in Data Protection Law, the term agent is seen to have some ordinary meaning that's outside the law of agency, viz a person who act's for another in business. Surely this interpretation is incorrect.

Can anybody throw some light on whether the Law of Agency applies to an Agent when its used in the context of Data Protection Law?

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Bowstead & Reynolds will probably answer nost of your general questions on agency, albiet in an English context. If no peculiar definition of agency is provided in the data protection acts then you can assume that the normal definition of agency applies. An employee is usually automatically an agent of the employer with implied or aparent authority to act for the employer withing the limits of the employee's role.