RSI is concerned by clause 31 of the draft Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill, which authorises the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to create sweeping regulations on the processing of biometric data, with few limits.
The Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill is the UK government’s most recent attempt to address the legacy of the conflict known as ‘the Troubles’ in Northern Ireland. To facilitate this effort, the government plans to legislate for the retention and use of personal data from people who are, or have been, in Northern Ireland, as part of the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery’s (ICRIR) functions.
RSI concerned by clause 31 of the Bill, entitled ‘biometric material’. The clause does very little to regulate the collection, retention or use of such data, including DNA and fingerprint samples.
Instead, clause 31 would grant the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland sweeping powers to create secondary legislation on this topic, with the only two restrictions being to ensure that there are ‘periodic reviews’ of the necessity of the data retention, and that material is destroyed a ‘reasonable period’ after the termination of ICRIR’s functions. ‘Reasonable period’ is not defined.
Any regulations passed pursuant to clause 31 would only be scrutinized under the ‘negative procedure’, which means that regulations become law unless rejected by Parliament. RSI believes that this is inadequate due to the highly sensitive nature of people’s biometric information, the broad powers granted by clause 31 and the potential for resulting human rights violations.
For more information, see the attached briefing.
