The Tynwald Commissioner for Administration has refused to investigate a complaint against the Information Commissioner.
TCA Paul Becket said the complaint falls outside his jurisdiction.
The complaint centred on the Information Commissioner’s refusal to process a data protection complaint because it was not submitted on an official form, despite the complainant being told this was not a legal requirement.
That complaint itself stems from an issue with how the DoI provided the complainant with documents relating to a subject access request.
Function
The complainant argued this arbitrary action was a function not set down by an Act of Tynwald and was investigable by the TCA.
In a report to Tynwald, Mr Beckett concluded that processing complaints is core to the Information Commissioner’s role.
He said: “I have concluded that the processing of complaints is not extraneous to the functions conferred on the Information Commissioner by Act of Tynwald; it is the very means by which the jurisdiction of the Information Commissioner is invoked.
“This is a ‘relevant function’.”
The TCA found the Information Commissioner, as a ‘Relevant Investigator’, is immune from investigation concerning such relevant functions.