the Canadian Act on Access to Information the general rule is that exemptions are discretionary. There are, however, five mandatory exemptions in the Act that require the public authority involved to claim an exemption for certain types of records. The mandatory exemptions relate to information that was obtained in confidence from the government of a foreign state or from an international organisation of states, personal information as defined in the Privacy Act, trade secrets of a third party, financial, commercial, scientific or technical information that is confidential information supplied to a government institution by a third party, and information the disclosure of which is restricted by or pursuant to specific other statutes The mandatory nature of these exemptions is set aside in certain circumstances, in which the public authority may disclose the information. First, this applies if the organisation from which the information was obtained or the person to whom the information relates consents to the disclosure. Secondly, personal information under the control of a government institution may be disclosed even without the consent of the individual to whom it relates if the public interest in disclosure clearly outweighs any invasion of privacy that could result from the disclosure. Thirdly, financial commercial, scientific and technical information that is confidential, may be disclosed if such disclosure would be in th public interest as it relates to public health, public safety or the protection of the environment and, if such public interest in disclosure clearly outweighs in importance any financial loss or gain to, prejudice to the competitive position of or interference with contractual or other negotiations of a third party. The exemptions concerning international affairs defence and national security, law enforcement and investigations, safety of individuals, economic interests of Canada, and deliberative documents are discretionary From the above review it becomes clear that the right to access public information remains in conflict with othe ocial values and interests such as the efficiency in Government and the right to privacy. The reconciliation of these opposing values and interest should be provided by the legal instruments and can take different procedural forms, depending on the legal and constitutional system of the country concerned. Among legal tools available to protect privat terests in confidentiality there are data protection laws that appeared in most western legal systems in response to new challenges to privacy caused by expanded possibilities for personal data processing by new technologies 4. Data Protection in Computerisation in Criminal justice Computerisation of criminal justice has far-reaching implications for human values that are involved in the automatic processing of personal data. The fears that computerisation of criminal justice is able to induce are mainly related to the potentials for over-control of individuals, including the possible breaches of their privacy through misuse of sensitive data about them recorded in computer files 1. An application of increasingly sophisticated information gathering devices for surveillance ctivities may reduce the individual's sense of security and liberty I Accumulation of personal data in various databases connected throughout computer networks would make possible the creation of personality profiles or so-called computer shadows of the data subject i Susceptibility of computerised information systems for an unauthorised access to data stored and their possible abuses have constituted another cause of concern I Use of information provided by centralised computer systems or sectors of the population who have no opportunity to inspect the accuracy of the info affect the legal position of the data subject in a way being harmful for their civil liberties 4.1 Data Protection Legislation and International Standards with information technology an individual may become transparent for the data controllers. To prevent such a possibility data protection legislation has been initiated in several countries. For the first time in Sweden(1973), and subsequently in over 20 other countries of Western Europe, North America and Australia. The underlying idea of nake it possible for the individual to ex over the one's own data that is collected and used by others. There is a positive feedback between the national legislationthe Canadian Act on Access to Information the general rule is that exemptions are discretionary. There are, however, five mandatory exemptions in the Act that require the public authority involved to claim an exemption for certain types of records. The mandatory exemptions relate to information that was obtained in confidence from the government of a foreign state or from an international organisation of states, personal information as defined in the Privacy Act, trade secrets of a third party, financial, commercial, scientific or technical information that is confidential information supplied to a government institution by a third party, and information the disclosure of which is restricted by or pursuant to specific other statutes. The mandatory nature of these exemptions is set aside in certain circumstances, in which the public authority may disclose the information. First, this applies if the organisation from which the information was obtained or the person to whom the information relates consents to the disclosure. Secondly, personal information under the control of a government institution may be disclosed even without the consent of the individual to whom it relates if the public interest in disclosure clearly outweighs any invasion of privacy that could result from the disclosure. Thirdly, financial, commercial, scientific and technical information that is confidential, may be disclosed if such disclosure would be in the public interest as it relates to public health, public safety or the protection of the environment and, if such public interest in disclosure clearly outweighs in importance any financial loss or gain to, prejudice to the competitive position of or interference with contractual or other negotiations of a third party. The exemptions concerning international affairs, defence and national security, law enforcement and investigations, safety of individuals, economic interests of Canada, and deliberative documents are discretionary. From the above review it becomes clear that the right to access public information remains in conflict with othe social values and interests such as the efficiency in Government and the right to privacy. The reconciliation of these opposing values and interest should be provided by the legal instruments and can take different procedural forms, depending on the legal and constitutional system of the country concerned. Among legal tools available to protect private interests in confidentiality there are data protection laws that appeared in most western legal systems in response to new challenges to privacy caused by expanded possibilities for personal data processing by new technologies. 4. Data Protection in Computerisation in Criminal Justice Computerisation of criminal justice has far-reaching implications for human values that are involved in the automatic processing of personal data. The fears that computerisation of criminal justice is able to induce are mainly related to the potentials for over-control of individuals, including the possible breaches of their privacy through misuse of sensitive data about them recorded in computer files: 1. An application of increasingly sophisticated information gathering devices for surveillance activities may reduce the individual=s sense of security and liberty; I Accumulation of personal data in various databases connected throughout computer networks would make possible the creation of personality profiles or so-called computer shadows of the data subject; I Susceptibility of computerised information systems for an unauthorised access to data stored and their possible abuses have constituted another cause of concern; I Use of information provided by centralised computer systems on large sectors of the population who have no opportunity to inspect the accuracy of the information held, may also affect the legal position of the data subject in a way being harmful for their civil liberties. 4.1 Data Protection Legislation and International Standards With information technology an individual may become transparent for the data controllers. To prevent such a possibility data protection legislation has been initiated in several countries. For the first time in Sweden (1973), and subsequently in over 20 other countries of Western Europe, North America and Australia. The underlying idea of protection of personal data is to reverse the above tendency and make it possible for the individual to exercise control over the one=s own data that is collected and used by others. There is a positive feedback between the national legislation