Authorisation concerning data subject's religious or philosophical beliefs
(1) The prohibition on processing personal information concerning a data subject's religious or philosophical beliefs, as referred to in section 26, does not apply if the processing is carried out by— (a) spiritual or religious organisations, or independent sections of those organisations if— (i) the information concerns data subjects belonging to those organisations; or (ii) it is necessary to achieve their aims and principles; (b) institutions founded on religious or philosophical principles with respect to their members or employees or other persons belonging to the institution, if it is necessary to achieve their aims and principles; or (c) other institutions: Provided that the processing is necessary to protect the spiritual welfare of the data subjects, unless they have indicated that they object to the processing.
(2) In the cases referred to in subsection (1)(a), the prohibition does not apply to processing of personal information concerning the religion or philosophy of life of family members of the data subjects, if— (a) the association concerned maintains regular contact with those family members in connection with its aims; and (b) the family members have not objected in writing to the processing.
(3) In the cases referred to in subsections (1) and (2), personal information concerning a data subject's religious or philosophical beliefs may not be supplied to third parties without the consent of the data subject.
What this means for your estate
- Not typically relevant to day-to-day estate operations, this exception is scoped to religious/philosophical organisations and institutions founded on those principles, not a general estate or HOA.
- Worth knowing it exists mainly for completeness of the Act, and relevant only in the specific case of an estate that is itself religiously affiliated or hosts such an institution on its property.
Most estates won't need this exception, PopiGuard's Personal Information Register only surfaces it if religious or philosophical data is actually flagged as being collected.