MICA Issues Public Consultation on Proposed Consumer Data Protection Regime

14 Sep 2011

The Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA) has issued a public consultation on the highly-anticipated uniform Data Protection (DP) law for Singapore. The proposed legislation will set the baseline standard for DP for all private sector organisations.

Currently in Singapore, there is no general law governing protection of personal data. Singapore currently adopts a sectoral approach towards DP legislation; sector-specific legislative and regulatory frameworks protect personal data within the public sector and certain private sector industries, such as banking and healthcare. 

The consultation deals with issues including:

• the scope of coverage of the proposed DP laws
• the proposed data management rules involving, among other things
• the collection, use and disclosure of personal data
• transfer of personal data outside Singapore
• data accuracy
• the protection and retention of personal data and
• transitional arrangements   

Concerns such as consistency with international standards, jurisdictional reach of the DP framework and the appropriate penalty and enforcement regime are also discussed in the consultation paper.

In addition, MICA is also seeking views on the proposed setting-up of a national Do-Not-Call registry to address the increasing volume of unsolicited marketing activities.

To read the update, please click here.