Administrative Law Challenges in the Information Commissioner’s Office Age Appropriate Design Code

  • Jonathan Collinson

Press/Media: Expert Comment

Description

A recent report, which I co-authored with advocacy organisation, Defend Digital Me, examined in particular the question of what the “Best Interests of the Child” might mean in the context of children’s data protection and privacy, and the problems that the ICO is likely to encounter in operationalising this principle. Decision-making on how to balance children’s rights will be new for most businesses. The Code may shift the responsibility for decisions away from parents at the point of their child’s use of digital products, and make it the responsibility of the architects and designers of tools and services, who will predetermine the available choices in a service.

As a regulator, the ICO’s actions are subject to administrative law principles. This blog post focusses on the specific administrative law issues identified in the report: firstly, is the best interests of the child a procedural or substantive right; and, secondly, what does it mean to treat the best interests of the child as a primary consideration?

Period19 Oct 2021

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