Privacy laws progress in the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia

The Philippines Senate passed on 20 March the Data Privacy Act, which is now waiting for reconciliation between the two Houses before it can be enacted. The Senate Bill covers both private and public sectors, and provides an exemption for the processing of outsourced data provided the data was collected overseas.

In Singapore, a draft Personal Data Protection Bill has been issued. A  Bill is likely to be introduced in Parliament later this year. The draft Bill, which contains no specific restrictions on data transfers, also applies to deceased persons.

In Malaysia, a Personal Data Protection Act was adopted in 2010, but is not yet in force, although the government has indicated that the Act may be brought into force as early as June this year.

Read more about this topic in the April issue of Privacy Laws & Business International Report, published on 18 April.