The Data Protection Commission (DPC) was consulted by the Department of Agriculture on the legality of the new veterinary medicine prescription system due to come into force next week, the Irish Farmers Journalhas confirmed.

It comes after a number of vets flagged data protection concerns with Veterinary Ireland around the sharing of farmers’ data with entities including the Department, other licensed veterinary medicine suppliers and State agencies.

These vets claimed that the National Veterinary Prescription System (NVPS) could see vets “disclosing sensitive, detailed client information” which would leave them open to “significant liability” if the system was found to be non-compliant with data protection regulations.

Permission required

They claim that they must contact farmers seeking permission to share their data in these ways before they issue prescriptions under the new system but are unsure of whether this involves a phone call or the signing of forms.

Information captured in the database will include farmers’ names, addresses, herd numbers, the tag numbers of animals prescribed veterinary medicines and the reason they were prescribed these medicines.

Letter

In a letter to Veterinary Ireland’s CEO Finbarr Murphy, a vet alleged that a Department official had told a meeting of vets in mid-December that the Department was “only now going to make informal enquiries” with the Data Protection Commission.

The Commission this week told the Irish Farmers Journal that it was consulted by the Department on the Veterinary Medicinal Products, Medicated Feed and Fertilisers Regulation Bill 2023, which was the instrument that brought about the NVPS.

“The DPC offered its observations on the bill,” a spokesperson stated.

A Department of Agriculture spokesperson told the Irish Farmers Journal that the system “meets all GDPR requirements and a data privacy notice will be on the Department’s website”.