The UK is under orders to improve the powers of the Information Commissioners Office. The European Commission has ordered the UK government to improve these powers a few times over the years since 2004 because of the Data Protection Directive.

The European Commission wants the Information Commissioners Office to be granted powers to randomly check companies. This is to ensure that companies are in compliance with data storage and data protection laws. The Commission has said that it will take legal action against the government if they fail to do this and force them to grant the powers.