From 25 May 2018, this Act ceased to apply to the processing of personal data (within the meaning of this Act) other than the processing of such data for the purposes of safeguarding the security of the State, the defence of the State or the international relations of the State, or the processing of such data under the Criminal Justice (Forensic Evidence and DNA Database System) Act 2014 or the Vehicle Registration Data (Automated Searching and Exchange) Act 2018 to the extent that this Act is applied in those Acts but is still applicable to complaints made under s. 10 and contraventions of this Act that occurred before 25 May 2018, see s. 8 of the Data Protection Act 2018 (No. 7).
Any restrictions in this Act on the processing of personal data do not apply if the processing is -
(a) in the opinion of a member of the Garda Síochána not below the rank of chief superintendent or an officer of the Permanent Defence Force who holds an army rank not below that of colonel and is designat
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