THE DATA PROTECTION ACT is unconstitutional, former temporary High Court Judge Gregory Delzin has said.

"The Data Protection Act was not passed in accordance with the required majority to amend the constitutional rights," Delzin said yesterday.

"Much of what the Data Protection Act has done may be unenforceable," he said.

Delzin made the statement as part of a panel at a seminar organised by the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago to address the Data Protection Act.

The seminar was held at the Hugh Wooding Law School in St Augustine yesterday.

"I am grateful in my research to come to the conclusion that this is an act that is in trouble," Delzin said.

Delzin said according to the Data Protection Act the Commissioner of Information has the authority to search the Office of the President.

"The Commissioner of Information is empowered to enter all properties including the Office of the President to determine whether he has breached his data protection obligations, without understanding what the constitution says about the invaluability of the presidential office," Delzin said.

"What you find in the Act is that the procedural provisions that promote privacy rights may be enforceable but the procedural and substantive provisions that give powers to the president to the commissioner of information may be unconstitutional and that is because I think the Act was not thought out in the context of a constitutional democracy," he said.

"I do not think the constitutional impact was readily appreciated," Delzin added.      

Head of the Police Complaints Authority and former temporary High Court Judge Gillian Lucky slammed the Data Protection Act.

"What I can say is this. Thank God this Act has not yet been proclaimed," Lucky said.

The Data Protection Act was passed in the Lower House on February 11 and in the Upper House on May 24.

It was assented to on June 22 but four months later is still to be proclaimed by President George Maxwell Richards.

"Legislation is being rushed and it is not being properly thought out yet still it is affecting tremendously and adversely citizens," Lucky said.

Lucky said while the Data Protection Act was not originally aimed to silence the media no provisions are in place to protect the fourth estate.

Kiran Maharaj, president of the Trinidad and Tobago Publishers and Broadcasters Association (TTPBA), said the Data Protection Act was "too ambiguous".

"We (TTPBA) feel it is too ambiguous and can be misinterpreted and has the potential to undermine press freedom," Maharaj said.

Judy Raymond, vice president of the Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago (MATT), said the Data Protection Act would bring a "screeching halt" to not only investigative journalism but all forms of journalism.