‘New rights’ - Parliament begins work on fresh Data Protection Bill

Jamaicans have been advised that they will embark on a new era of rights when the long-awaited Data Protection Bill is passed, Technology Minister Fayval Williams has said.

In piloting the bill in the House of Representatives Wednesday, the minister argued that the new regime would give backbone to the recognition of citizens’ right to privacy and be in alignment with the United Nations’ 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Data Protection Bill, which was recently deliberated before a joint select committee of Parliament, provides guidelines on how personal data should be collected, processed, stored, used, and disclosed in physical or electronic form.

It requires that data only be obtained for specific lawful purposes, with the consent of the individual, and not be further used or processed incompatibly with the original purpose.

The bill stipulates that the data collected be accurate, and, where necessary, kept up to date; not be held for longer than is necessary for the original purpose; be protected using appropriate technical and organisational measures; and be disposed of in accordance with the regulations.

“As data is considered the ‘new gold’, the passing of this bill is critical to the Government’s attempt to delineate the rights of individuals in relation to the processing of their personal and sensitive personal data, and to establish the parameters within which their data should be processed by data controllers in both the private and public sectors.

“When enacted, we will be in a new regime, with new rights – new rights to our personal data that we didn’t have before,” Williams told Parliament on Wednesday.

The bill further provides that data not be transferred to a state or territory outside of Jamaica, unless it ensures an adequate level of protection for the rights and freedoms of the individual from whom the data has been collected.

Before concluding, Williams recognised the work of the joint select committee that worked on the bill.

Debate on the bill is expected to continue at the next sitting of the House.

romario.scott@gleanerjm.com