Inside the early days of Singapore's first privacy regime
Four months after Singapore’s first privacy protection laws came into effect, the chief counsel to the nation's Personal Data Protection Commission concedes there is “still a fair amount of work to do” to get the business community up to date with the demands of the new regime.
Speaking in Sydney to the ANZ branch of the international association of privacy professionals (iappANZ), David Alfred said a recent survey of ‘privacy readiness’ amongst Singapore business showed that 65 percent of organisations were prepared for the new laws, key elements of which came into effect in 2 July 2014.
“Even those who say they comply, I think the reality of that depends very much on what level that organisation is able to implement data protection and not just compliance," he said. “So I guess that is where our next phase of outreach efforts in the coming years will focus. We need to get buy-in from more senior levels of management, so that they are aware of the importance of protecting personal data, both as an asset to them and as a responsibility to their customers."