The Data Protection Commission has dispatched a taskforce made up of men from the Ghana Police Service to arrest Directors of Companies who have failed to register with it as required by law.

The Friday exercise, which started in the morning, will see the task force visiting the various hospitality centres and health facilities in the capital, Accra.

Head of Police CID Cyber Unit, Dr Gustav Yankson told the media companies that have not registered with the Commission as mandated by law will not be spared.

Related Article: CEOs of institutions that breach data protection law face 2 years jail term

Chief Executive of the Commission, Teki Akuetteh Falconer

“The Data Protection Act, 2012 (Act 843) was promulgated in 2012 and till date, we’ve been doing a lot of sensitization and educating personalities of companies who collect data to register but unfortunately most of them have refused to do as required by section 27 of the law,” he lamented.

“Section 56 of the Act also requires that anyone who fails to register should be put before court,” Dr Yankson explained the Commission’s action.

The law was passed by parliament to protect the privacy of individual and personal data in the country.

Related Article: British Airways, African Regent Hotel among top names said to have violated Data Protection law

It gives Ghanaians the right to the privacy of their communications, which must be protected by data collectors such as Supermarkets, hospitals, hotels and restaurants.

But five years after the law was passed, more than 170 institutions have been cited for violating it.

The list is made up of institutions such as British Airways, Lufthansa Airlines, Royal Senchi Hotel, Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and Accra Mall.

As a result, heads of institutions that have fallen foul of the law risk being jailed for two years or being made to pay 250 penalty units or both.

Dr Yankson said the Commission will ensure that sanctions are applied against the directors of institutions both local and foreign in order to ensure that the data of clients are protected.

“How do we know how that data is protected?” he quizzed, adding there have been reported cases where credit cards of patrons have been cloned and their money used by some unidentified people.

The Commission will not allow data of Ghanaians to be at the mercy of the companies, he said.