We have to get this right.

MHKs raised concerns in the House of Keys that legislation to comply with new EU data protections rules was being rushed through - and could lead to significant extra costs for island businesses.

The Manx government is revising the island’s Data Protection law to ensure full compliance with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which comes into force on May 25 this year.

The Isle of Man is not a member of the EU.

But for member states to legally transfer data to a country which is outside the EU, such as the Isle of Man, that country must have data protection legislation that is sufficiently similar to the EU law.

In the Keys this week, Policy and Reform Minister Chris Thomas pushed for the Data Protection Bill 2018 to be given its first and second readings in one sitting, pointing out that the May deadline is pressing.

But Middle MHK Bill Shimmins asked: ’I’m not quite sure why this is lastminute.com - why are we being asked to rush the process?’

MHKs voted unanimously to suspend standing orders to allow the bill to have its second reading.

Mr Thomas pointed out that this was a short enabling framework bill, and there was still 200 to 300 pages of regulations and orders to be considered in Tynwald.

’This is not lastminute.com,’ he insisted. ’We are at exactly the same stage as they are in the UK.’

But Lawrie Hooper (LibVan, Ramsey) argued: ’I do believe this bill is very much last minute. It’s taken two years to get to this point.’

He said the government’s approach was wrong and the fundamentals of privacy and data protection should be enshrined in primary law. ’We’ve got to get this right,’ he said.

Fellow Ramsey MHK Alex Allinson said he was concerned that some of the orders coming through from Europe could cause problems for island businesses which could face significant costs in meeting these requirements.

He said they could ’perhaps limit their ability to function at all’.

Dr Allinson suggested that the EU was very much ’do as we say and not as we do’ - it was very good at issuing rules and regulations but then ’they themselves selecting what is appropriate for them’.

He suggested the island could craft a bill that would give us a competitive advantage.

The revised Manx Data Protection law will require organisations to simplify the withdrawal of consent for the use of personal data.

It will allow individuals to request their personal data held by companies to be erased or rectified. And it will enable processing of sensitive personal data but will require ’explicit’ consent to enable this processing.

MHKs voted to the give the bill its second reading.