High Court injunction on data ads

Members of the UKTECH network recently raised the issue of some data protection companies trying to pass themselves off as 'official' bodies and demand high fees from small businesses for services which were unnecessary. Now the High Court and the Office of Fair Trading have intervened to prevent misleading advertising of some of these schemes.

Following action by the OFT, the High Court has granted an interim injunction against Christopher Yewdall restraining him from being involved with what the OFT regards as misleading advertising for data protection notification services.

The OFT's case is that Mr Yewdall was involved with misleading advertisements relating to notification with the Information Commissioner under the Data Protection Act 1998 that used various names:

• Data Protection Agency,
  
• Data Protection Agency Registrations,
  
• Data Protection Agency Services,
  
• National Registrations,
  
• Data Protection Registration
  
• Data Protection Registration Services.

The OFT received thousands of complaints from businesses regarding these adverts, which used return addresses all over the country. Mr Yewdall had previously given written assurances to the OFT that he would not be involved with such advertising.

The OFT considers that such adverts are misleading because they give the impression they are from an official body, that the businesses receiving them are under a legal obligation to register with the sender and that notification costs £95. They also fail to properly explain which persons are exempt from notification under the Data Protection Act 1998.

While most businesses processing personal data are required by law to notify the Information Commissioner, many small businesses that process such data for limited purposes are exempt from notification. Businesses that do need to do so can notify the Information Commissioner directly, for a fee of only £35.

The injunction prevents Mr Yewdall from being involved in any way with certain types of advertising about data protection notification services. It also means he cannot accept payments received after today in response to such advertising. Mr Yewdall consented to the interim injunction being granted until full trial without making any admissions about the OFT's case.

Welcoming the interim injunction, Penny Boys, OFT Executive Director, said: "The OFT has received thousands of complaints about this sort of misleading advertising.

"Businesses should contact the Information Commissioner if in any doubt about their obligations to notify under data protection legislation."