NPC: Asean privacy framework possible
Credit to Author: TYRONE JASPER C. PIAD| Date: Mon, 15 Apr 2019 16:23:48 +0000
Crafting a regional privacy framework for the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) before the year ends is not far from reality as efforts to protect information and raise data security awareness continue, the National Privacy Commission (NPC) said.
“[T]he ambition is quite clear—for Asean to get its act together and come up with a framework that is globally recognized. We see it becoming a possibility,” NPC Commissioner Raymund Liboro said at the sidelines of an event in Baguio last week.
With the establishment of a regional framework, cross-border investigations could be conducted to further the enforcement of data privacy laws and policies, Liboro said.
“Any cross-border data flow framework must be accompanied by cross-border privacy enforcement arrangement. That must come hand in hand,” he explained.
Liboro said there was a nice synergy among member-states about the regional privacy framework, saying “Everyone is really looking forward that Asean member-states could actually even provide the best practices in coming up with a regional framework for cross-border data.”
“What we are excited about is we are contemplating now on a regional approach, which could actually set a global trend,” he added.
The International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners (ICDPPC) — which promotes information protection and security among 122 privacy authorities worldwide — has no Asean counterpart, Liboro said.
The Philippines is currently part of the five-member ICDPPC executive board along with Australia, Canada, Burkina Faso and the United Kingdom. ICDPPC has only three sub-units at present—Ibero-American Network, Common Thread Network and African Network.
There is no Asean ICDPPC unit, he said. He said the Asia Pacific Privacy Authorities (APPA) is the nearest group to what the NPC chief envisions, but it is only comprised of members of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperations, excluding other Asean countries.
The APPA will be conducting its second forum on data privacy this year in Cebu City on December 2 to 4. The first one will be held in Tokyo, Japan on May 29.
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