Guide to Law Enforcement Processing

The Guide to Law Enforcement Processing is part of our Guide to Data Protection. It is for those who have day-to-day responsibility for data protection in organisations with law enforcement functions.

It explains the data protection regime that applies to those authorities when processing personal data for law enforcement purposes. It covers part 3 of the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018), which is separate from the UK GDPR regime.

It explains each of the data protection principles, rights and obligations. It summarises the key points you need to know and answers frequently asked questions.

Where relevant, this guide also links to more detailed guidance and other resources, including ICO guidance and relevant European guidance published by the European Data Protection Board (EDPB). EDPB guidelines are no longer directly binding to the UK regime, but are included as a useful reference resource.

This section only covers processing for law enforcement purposes. You will need to read our Guide to the UK GDPR when processing for non-law enforcement purposes.