Section 6X - Review and amendment of professional standards

The Information Commissioner must review the Professional Standards at least once every four years.³ The Information Commissioner may amend the Professional Standards at any time.⁴

Reviewing the Professional Standards helps to ensure they continue to be fit for purpose and up to date. The review process provides the opportunity to:

• revisit the policy basis for existing Professional Standards and consider whether they are still required or if they need to be amended or repealed;
• consider and introduce new Professional Standards;
• update the Professional Standards in response to any amendments to the Act where necessary; and
• review the Professional Standards for readability, usability, and clarity.

The Information Commissioner must follow the processes in sections 6U and 6V when amending the Professional Standards. Sections 6U and 6V outline the processes the Information Commissioner must follow when developing the Professional Standards, such as publishing draft Professional Standards and publicly consulting on them.⁶

However, the Information Commissioner is not required to go through the processes in sections 6U and 6V if the changes to the Professional Standards are typographical or similarly minor (for example, to fix a spelling error).