Presently in Brunei, the processing of personal data in the private sector is largely unregulated. Recognising the importance of this, the Ministry of Transport and Infocommunications (MTIC) designated the Authority for Info-communications and Technology Industry of Brunei Darussalam (AITI) to develop a new law on personal data protection (PDP).
AITI PDP Manager Farah Atiyah binti Haji Zainal Abidin presented Brunei Darussalam’s PDP progress and expounded upon the obligations on organisations and rights of individuals under the new legislation during a conference on PDP at Brunei Mid-Year Conference and Exhibition 2022 (Brunei MYCE 2022) conference yesterday.
This was followed by a panel discussion comprising Deputy Director of Policy and Tech, Personal Data Protection Commission in Singapore Koh Suat Hong, Deputy Chief Information Security Officer of Cyber Security Brunei Mohd Azad Zaki bin Haji Mohd Tahir, Head of Security at EVYD Technology Sdn Bhd June Qiu and AITI Senior Legal Manager Jasmine Wong. The panel, moderated by AITI Assistant Chief Executive of Tina Lim-Keasberry, discussed the measures for PDP in the digital era. The session concluded with a question-and-answer segment with the audience.
AITI has since conducted public consultations with the stakeholders and drafted the PDP legislation, with consideration from the feedback of stakeholders. The upcoming law aims to govern the collection, use and disclosure of personal data by private organisations in a way that recognises the right of individuals to protect their personal data and the need of organisations to collect, use and disclose personal data.
