News & Events

DMA: Edited electoral register should not be shelved

Date posted:

22nd July 2008

The edited electoral register should not be shelved, one industry expert has claimed.

A spokesperson from the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) has expressed concern regarding recommendations made in the government's Data Sharing Review report, published this month.

The report considered whether changes are needed to the operation of the Data Protection Act 1998, particularly with regard to data sharing.

It offered suggestions on the powers and sanctions available to the Information Commission and the courts and recommended that the edited version of the electoral register should be abolished.

However, Caroline Roberts, director of public and legal affairs at the DMA, told the Manchester Evening News that this could be damaging for marketers, since they would not be able to target their audiences as effectively.

"Everyone agrees that direct mail should be correctly targeted and access to the edited electoral register is an efficient way of verifying data to do just that.

"We therefore disagree with recommendation 19 of the review as the edited register does serve a purpose and so should not be abolished," she commented.

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