Phl leads ASEAN data protection efforts
Raymund Liboro, National Privacy Commission (NPC) commissioner, said that the NPC was an active participant in the first ASEAN Data Protection and Privacy Forum in Bangkok, Thailand, since the Philippines helmed the conference, and he chaired the summit’s inaugural meeting.
The summit was an important inaugural conference that aims to harmonize regional data protection, privacy regulations and initiatives.
The forum had gathered all data privacy regulators and privacy enforcement agencies and bodies in the ASEAN.
“The ASEAN must harness technologies and digital innovation to its advantage through effective policies that will enable greater movement of data and ease of market access that will bridge the digital divide among the member states and at the same time, provide guidance to its digital citizens in protecting their data. We must ensure that everybody can benefit from the digital economy and that no one is left behind. That is the ASEAN Way,” Liboro said in his welcome remarks.
With the increasing global concern over privacy, “responsible data stewardship and data management across the region will protect and benefit all our citizens and certainly boost the region’s competitiveness,” Liboro added.
Representatives from all 10 ASEAN Member States (AMS) were present as key decisions on priority areas for cooperation and the scope of work of the regional summit were made. Developments and updates on the proposals about Data Classification Framework and Cross Border Data Flow Mechanism for ASEAN were also tackled during the meeting.
The forum will serve as the platform for the AMS to exchange views and information on data protection and privacy matters, including enforcement cooperation. Seeking to harmonize data protection and regulation, the forum comes as at a juncture in ASEAN history when privacy and data protection is becoming an important concern.
To date, three ASEAN countries have data protection laws and established a data privacy authority regulator.
These are the Philippines, Singapore, and Malaysia. Just recently, Thailand passed its own data protection law, while other states in the region such as Indonesia are in various stages of developing their own data protection and data privacy laws.