The Data Protection Act 1998 (Commencement No. 4) Order 2015 will bring S.56 of the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA 1998), ‘Prohibition of requirement as to production of certain records’, into force from 10 March 2015. S.56 prevents employers from requiring people during the recruitment process or in connection with continued employment to use their subject access rights under the DPA 1998 to obtain and then provide a copy of their criminal records, as a condition of employment. It also prevents contracts from requiring specified records as a condition for providing or receiving a service. However, it does not prevent such requests where the record is required by law, or by the order of a court, or is justified in the public interest. The relevant specified records are set out in a table within S.56 DPA 1998. Contravention of S.56 will be a criminal offence.

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