A decision by the Data Protection Commissioner, who found the political parties guilty of violating legal provisions and formally warning them, was yesterday confirmed by an appeals tribunal.

The commissioner rapped the parties after he received complaints about unsolicited e-mails in June. The Labour Party appealed the decision.

He asked the political parties to carry out a data cleaning exercise to ensure that all e-mail addresses contained in their database were in line with the law.

The tribunal concluded that the commissioner’s decision was correct and according to law. It stated that every directive given by him should be followed by the parties.