DAVID IRVING WRITES to the Data Protection Agency, January 5, 1998: --   I note that your agency has yet to respond to my letter, written some weeks ago, protesting at renewed refusals by the Board of Deputies of British Jews and its sub-agency the Community Security Trust to provide me with lawful access under the Act to their data on me. 2. Since the Board of Deputies of British Jews is hiding behind the (untruthful) pretence that the data concerned are manual, not electronic, can you please inform me when the new European directive is to come into force which will oblige data users to give us access to such files as well? And what the procedure in that event will be? Yoursfaithfully David Irving [The Agency has yet to reply]

EVERY subject now has the statutory right under the Data Protection Act, 1984, to give the Board of Deputies forty days' notice in writing to provide copies of all data maintained by the Board on them, and to require the Board to make such corrections as the subject concerned may require.

Subjects who suspect that they are being victimised should write in the first instance by Recorded Mail to the Research Unit, Board of Deputies of British Jews, marking their letter for the attention of Michael Whine, Director, Research Unit, Commonwealth House, 1 - 19 New Oxford Street, London WC1A 1NF. If the Board refuses to give satisfaction within forty days, the subject should then complain in writing to the Registrar of the Data Protection Agency, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF; the agency has statutory powers to search and seize databases in the event of non compliance with the Act.