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House passes long-awaited privacy bill
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Lawmakers passed into law on Tuesday a long-awaited privacy bill that grants citizens more control over their personal information online and seeks to spur cybersecurity improvements amid a recent string of digital attacks in the country. (Shutterstock.com/Boiko Y)
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awmakers passed into law on Tuesday a long-awaited privacy bill that grants citizens more control over their personal information online and seeks to spur cybersecurity improvements amid a recent string of digital attacks in the country.
The passage of the Personal Data Protection Law was formalized at a House of Representatives plenary session led by deputy speaker Lodewijk Paulus, with all House party factions approving the bill.
“Today is a historic moment that has been eagerly awaited,” Communications and Information Minister Johnny G. Plate said at the meeting, adding that the legislation was an embodiment of the government’s commitment to protecting citizens’ private data.
He said the law would help improve data protection standards in the country’s technology industry and would strengthen global recognition of the country’s data protection efforts.
The law requires data controllers and processors – whether public or private – to ask for permission to collect and share data and to give users information on why and how they will use the data. Controllers and processors must also make efforts to ensure the security of the data, including by setting up firewalls and encryption systems. They will have two years to comply, and it remains unclear how data breaches will be addressed before the deadline.
The bill was first proposed in 2014, but deliberations dragged on over the status of a prescribed oversight agency. The government and lawmakers came to a consensus earlier this month that the agency’s role would be outlined generally in the law, that it would answer to the President and that the details of the institutional design would be left to the executive.
The agency is responsible for establishing the details of data protection policies, resolving disputes outside the court system and imposing administrative sanctions and fines on data controllers or processors that breach the rights of data subjects.
