While going through my research on what insurances, policies and laws I must adhere to prior to going into business the issue of the data protection act sprung to mind.

Now I understand some of you may not have electronic copies of customers details but my intention is to start a customer database from day one and also manage an active quarterly email detailing my upcoming offers/packages. To do so I will have to store electronic records records of customers details and of course give them notification I am doing so and in the case of the emails an option to opt in/out.

So that leaves to me to ask the question is this common place for everyone present to pay the below £35 to the ICO? By no means am I looking for a way to circumvent this I am merely interested to see who is also complying and if this is necessary.

As taken from the ICO website

Notification to process personal data (All UK)

You must notify the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) if your business processes personal data in an automated form.

'Personal data' means data which relates to a living person who can be identified from that data. It includes employment details, client information and information captured on CCTV.

If you do process personal data, your business is a 'data controller' for the purposes of the Data Protection Act 1998.

Most businesses must notify the ICO unless they only process personal data for the following purposes:

staff administration (including payroll)
advertising, marketing and public relations for their own business
accounts and records
judicial functions
personal, family or household affairs (including recreational purposes)
The following are also exempt from the requirement to register:

some not-for-profit organisations
data controllers who only process personal data for the maintenance of a public register
data controllers who do not process personal data on computer
To check whether you are exempt, use our self assessment tool - the link to this is displayed on the right-hand side of this page.

You should always check with the ICO if you are unsure whether you are exempt from notification.

You can notify the ICO by:

filling in an online notification form, printing it out and sending it to the ICO
completing a notification form request and posting it to the ICO
ringing the ICO's notification helpline and requesting a notification form
You need to fill in details of your business and a general description of the processing of personal information being carried out by the data controller.

A notification fee of £500 applies to data controllers with either:

a turnover of £25.9M and 250 or more members of staff
if they are a public authority with 250 or more members of staff.
All other data controllers - including registered charities and small occupational pension schemes (regardless of their size and turnover - must pay £35 per year unless they are exempt.

Once you have successfully notified the ICO, the details of your business will be entered on the register of data controllers.

You need to renew your registration each year. If you fail to do so you are committing a criminal offence and could be faced with an unlimited fine. The ICO will write to you before the expiry date and explain the process for renewing your entry on the register.