Eircodes

National Postcode System

The Civil Communications Regulation of Postal Services Amendment Act 2015 provides for the national postcode system.  The system assigns a unique seven-digit postcode to each postal address.  The legislation facilitates the holding, retention and processing of data in connection with the system.

The legislation provides for legitimate postcode activity.  The Minister may specify new legitimate postcode activity.  The legitimate postcode activities include

• development and maintenance of postcode system,
• dissemination of postcodes,
• matching of addresses,
• incorporation of addresses  into databases,
• licensing of the postcode address databases,
• reselling of the postcode address databases.

The Minister is required to consult the Data Protection Commissioner and Minister for Justice before making regulations extending the legitimate postcode activities.

Postcode Activities

The Minister may make regulations. Conditions must be satisfied before it can be granted a license to use the postcode database to provide value added services.  Value added resellers must be screened against particular criteria.

The Minister may require by regulations the postcode contractor to include provisions in licenses granted to value added resellers.  Provisions may be made for auditing, suspension, and termination of licenses.

The contractor may only grant the license to a value-added reseller or end user where it can be demonstrated that they have registered with the appropriate data protection regulator.

Privacy Data & Complaints

There is an obligation to publish a privacy notice so that specific information is made readily available to individuals in relation to how postcodes are to be used, to whom they may be licensed, and the rights of individuals in relation to the correction of data and the making of complaints.

It is confirmed that the postcode contractor the Minister and value-added resellers duly licensed or compliant with their obligations may process personal data for purposes related to or connected with the legitimate postcode activity only.

There is a statutory framework for complaints procedure in relation to postcodes.  This is designed to safeguard the legitimate interest of owners and occupiers of property.  There is an obligation on the postcode contractor to develop a data retention policy to ensure that the commission postcodes are retained for recordkeeping purposes.