The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has raised the
annual fee for larger organisations to register as adata controllerby over 14 times to £500.
The higher fee will enable the ICO to increase activities such
as audits and investigations to help protect personal information
and ensure compliance with the
Data Protection Act, the privacy watchdog said.
The new rate applies to data controllers with a turnover of
£25.9m and 250 or more employees. The new rate also applies to
public bodies with 250 or more members of staff.
All other data controllers will continue to pay £35 a year,
unless they are exempt.
Registered charities and small occupational pension schemes will
not come into the higher tier, regardless of their size and
turnover, the ICO said.
These organisations will remain in the lower-tier unless exempt
from the requirement to notify.
By law organisations that process personal information must
notify the Information Commissioner's Office.
An entry about each organisation - including details about the
information it processes - is made public in the Register of Data
Controllers.
The increase in the notification fee is the first since the Data
Protection Act 1998 was introduced in 2000.