____________________________________________ GUIDANCE NOTE ON DATA PROTECTION ____________________________________________ 1. This document sets out guidance that is intended to provide assistance to those advising Lodges and Chapters in relation to how personal information relating to individual Masons must be handled by each Lodge and Chapter of which the Mason is a member.
2. An earlier Guidance Note dated 15 November 2016 was circulated which reflected data protection law as it was at that time. On 25th May 2018, the law will change in a number of ways, some of which will affect the way that Lodges and Chapters process personal data. This is as a result of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which takes effect on that date. 3. This Guidance reflects data protection law as it will be under the GDPR, and is intended to replace entirely the Guidance Note dated 15 November 2016.
Whilst many of the
requirements and obligations will not change under the new law, Lodges and Chapters are kindly requested to have regard to this Guidance Note only for an overview of their responsibilities from 25th May 2018 onwards. 4. As previously, the Guidance does not set out an exhaustive overview of the provisions of the GDPR: its purpose is to identify the principles and requirements of key importance that are likely to be relevant to the way in which individual Lodges and Chapters deal with the information that they maintain about their members. As ever, any specific queries or concerns in relation to data protection should be raised with the Province or District in the first instance.
A. The requirements of the GDPR: a brief overview The meaning of ‘personal data’ 5. This Guidance is concerned with the processing (meaning the handling of) of ‘personal data.’ Broadly speaking, ‘personal data’ is information that relates to a living individual. Whether 1 This note has been prepared to provide general and non-exhaustive guidance to Masonic Lodges and Chapters as to the operation of the General Data Protection Regulation. It does not set out legal advice. Should any Lodge or Chapter have any specific queries or concerns about its obligations under the GDPR, these should be raised with the Province or District in the first instance before any action is taken.