PROPOSAL TO HAVE PRIVACY OFFICER TO IMPLEMENT DATA PROTECTION LAW

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 12 (Bernama) -- New Zealand''s Assistant Privacy

Commissioner Katrine Evans has suggested that Malaysia have privacy officers to

implement the data protection law.

She said a privacy officer is the person in an agency who can understand its

business and, at the same time, help the agency get it right in handling

personal information.

"I don''t know whether Malaysia has the requirement for every agency to have

a privacy officer but, if it doesn''t, you should have one," she said when

delivering her talk on "First Steps for a Data Protection Commissioner: Some

Suggestions from New Zealand" at the inaugural seminar on personal data

protection, here.

The seminar, which was held on Thursday, was opened by Information,

Communications and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim who announced the

setting up of the Personal Data Protection Department under the ministry.

Evans said New Zealand has had its data protection laws for almost 20 years

in its Privacy Act 1993.

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Deputy Coordinator of the Privacy Commissioner''s Office of Macau, Ken

Chongwei Yang, said there have been increased investigations regarding personal

data protection in the five years since 2007.

He said there were 22 cases in 2007, 35 in 2008, 47 in 2009, 63 in 2010 and

86 last year.

Macau''s data protection law, passed in August 2005 and entered into force in

February 2006, covers both the public and private sectors, he said.

"It also covers automatic data processing as well as systematic manual

processing," he said in his talk on "Effective Approach in Implementation of

Data Protection Law: Macau''s Experience".

Yang said many resources were used to educate people and a lot of

promotional work was done for different targets, especially youths, to make them

understand the role of the law.

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"Youths are a group which use information technology a lot and we also hold

briefing sessions, seminars, training courses and conferences to make people

understand the personal data protection act," he said.

Founder and chief executive officer of Abdul Raman Saad & Associates, Datuk

Dr Abdul Raman Saad, in his working paper on "Offences under the Personal Data

Protection Act", said the penalty of a fine of RM500,000 or a jail term of up to

three years or both is severe.

He said it was proper for a severe sentence to be imposed because personal

data is vital individual information and people cannot afford to neglect it in

the current cyber era.

The Personal Data Protection Act was gazetted in June 2010, aimed at

protecting people''s personal data such as bank account details, credit card

information, medical history, blood type and communication details to avoid

misuse.

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NJ RV MGN