ICO Issues Guidance On PATI And PIPA
The Information Commissioner has issued guidance regarding the relationship between the Public Access to Information [PATI] Act and the Personal Information Protection Act [PIPA].
A spokesperson said, “The Information Commissioner has issued guidance for the public and public authorities on the relationship between the Public Access to Information [PATI] Act and the Personal Information Protection Act [PIPA]. The guidance explains to all stakeholders how to proceed under the harmonising amendments to the PATI Act that became effective on 1 January 2025. This includes understanding that applications for an individual’s own personal information must be made under PIPA and a request for other information in public records must be made as a PATI request. The Information Commissioner’s Office has also created a webpage of resources for stakeholders to understand changes to the PATI Act, ico.bm/changes-to-pati.”
“The public can still make PATI requests for records held by a public authority containing a third party’s personal information. PIPA will not be a barrier to fulfilling the PATI Act’s purposes of promoting accountability and transparency around decision making by public authorities,” explained Information Commissioner Gitanjali Gutierrez. “In practice, it means that records containing the work-related decisions and actions by elected officials, executive public officers, board chairs and other leaders within the public sector may still be subject to disclosure in response to a PATI request. This will occur when the public has a strong interest in the accountability and transparency of these individuals’ work information, and their expectation of privacy for this information is low.”
The spokesperson said, “An important change to the PATI Act is that if an individual wants to receive their own personal information, the application will proceed under PIPA.”
“Over the years, we have seen many PATI requests that are made by people asking for copies of records about them. These might be recruitment or promotion records, disciplinary records or other human resources documents. Others might seek records about their education or actions that a public authority has taken concerning them or their children,” stated Commissioner Gutierrez. “Now these types of queries will be processed under PIPA, not the PATI Act.”
The spokesperson said, “The ICO’s new guidance and webpage explains to public authorities how to handle different types of requests from the public and how to respond in different scenarios. This includes what to do if a PATI request seeks regular public records along with the individual’s own personal information. With a helpful flowchart, clear guidance, and other resources, stakeholders will be equipped to manage the relationship between the PATI Act and PIPA.”
