Section 179 — Data Protection Act 2018: Effectiveness of the media's dispute resolution procedures

Effectiveness of the media's dispute resolution procedures 179 1 The Secretary of State must, before the end of each review period, lay before Parliament a report produced by the Secretary of State or an appropriate person on—

a the use of relevant alternative dispute resolution procedures, during that period, in cases involving a failure, or alleged failure, by a relevant media organisation to comply with the data protection legislation, and b the effectiveness of those procedures in such cases.

2 In this section— “ appropriate person ” means a person who the Secretary of State considers has appropriate experience and skills to produce a report described in subsection (1); “ relevant alternative dispute resolution procedures ” means alternative dispute resolution procedures provided by persons who produce or enforce codes of practice for relevant media organisations; “ relevant media organisation ” means a body or other organisation whose activities consist of or include journalism, other than a broadcaster; “ review period ” means— the period of 3 years beginning when this Act is passed, and each subsequent period of 3 years.

3 The Secretary of State must send a copy of the report to—

a the Scottish Ministers, b the Welsh Ministers, and c the Executive Office in Northern Ireland.