ICO fines companies for not paying the data protection fee

The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) fines the first companies for not paying the data protection fee. Unless they are exempt, all organisations, companies and sole traders who process personal data have to pay an annual data protection fee.

Depending on their maximum turnover, number of employees and whether they are a charity or public authority, the fee varies from £40 to £2,900. Whereas the fine for not paying varies from £400 to £4,000. The fines recovered go to the Treasury’s Consolidated Fund. The regulations came into force together with the new Data Protection Act on 25 May 2018.

“Following numerous attempts to collect the fees via our robust collection process, we are now left with no option but to issue fines to these organisations. They must now pay these fines within 28 days or risk further legal action. (…) You are breaking the law if you process personal data or are responsible for processing it and do not pay the data protection fee to the ICO”, said Paul Arnold, Deputy Chief Executive Officer at the ICO.

More than 900 fine notices have been issued by the ICO since September and more are set to follow. Companies can check if their fee is due to renewal on the ICO’s website.