The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group (APEC) has approved a new initiative
to harmonize cross-border data privacy protection, which is designed to enhance
the protection of consumer data that moves between its members, including the
United States, at a time when more consumer information is moving across national
borders.
The APEC Cross-Border Privacy Rules were approved at the recent Leaders Meeting
in Honolulu, Hawaii. The rules are a self-regulatory code of conduct designed
to create more consistent privacy protections for consumers when their data
moves between countries with different privacy regimes in the APEC region.
The voluntary rules will promote a baseline set of data privacy practices for
companies doing business in participating APEC economies. This is said to be
especially critical for companies doing business in the Asia Pacific region,
with its impressive growth, dynamism and potential for expanded trade.
Companies that wish to participate in the APEC privacy system will undergo
a review and certification process by third parties that will examine corporate
privacy policies and practices and enforce the new privacy rules. In addition,
the official privacy authorities in the APEC region that choose to participate
in the programme will serve as backstop enforcers of the rules.
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), that helped the Department of Commerce
to develop the APEC privacy rules, welcomed the approval. FTC Commissioner Edith
Ramirez noted that the global flow of data raises significant consumer protection
issues.
“With personal information now moving around the world in the blink of
an eye, we need pragmatic ways to bridge the gaps between different legal systems
and privacy regimes. The APEC privacy rules have the potential to significantly
benefit companies, consumers, and privacy regulators and move us closer to global
interoperability of privacy regimes,” she said.
US Commerce Secretary John Bryson also applauded the completion of the privacy
rules, adding that “this initiative is an important development in international
data protection. The US and its trading partners in APEC recognized the need
for a data privacy framework that provides effective privacy protection for
consumers while avoiding barriers to information flows.”
It is hoped that the new privacy system will be launched by the APEC member
countries next year.
LAWANDTAX-NEWS.COM
