UK applies to become an Associate Member of Global Cross Border Privacy Rules Forum



The UK applied, on 17 April, to join the Global Cross Border Privacy Rules (CBPR) Forum as an Associate Member, the US Commerce Department reports. There is no official confirmation from the UK government as yet. The UK will be the first new jurisdiction to participate in the Global CBPR Forum since it was established last year. The group, which released the Global CBPR Framework and the Forum’s Terms of Reference on 13 April, is aiming to widen participation from APEC countries to allow participation by economies anywhere in the world.

Any jurisdiction may seek Associate status if it:

  1. Supports the principles and objectives of the Forum provided in the Global CBPR Declaration and the Global CBPR Framework;
  2. Has law(s) and/or regulation(s), the enforcement of which has the effect of protecting personal information; and
  3. Has at least one public body that is responsible for enforcing law(s) and/or regulation(s) and has the powers to conduct investigations or pursue enforcement proceedings.

The Global CBPR System is a voluntary accountability-based scheme to facilitate data transfers. The CBPR system has so far had relatively little importance due to:

  • having only few accountability agents for certifying that the privacy policies and practices of participating organisations are compliant with the CBPR system requirements, and
  • only few companies joining the system.

The current members include Australia, Canada, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, the Philippines, Singapore, Chinese Taipei and the United States.

The Forum is meeting this week in London.

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