43rd APPA Forum — Communiqué

The 43rd Asia Pacific Privacy Authorities (APPA) Forum was hosted by the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, Hong Kong on 11–12 June 2015. The meeting was attended by a broad range of APPA members (see list below).

Delegates discussed a variety of current issues over two days. Here are some selected highlights.

New members

The meeting welcomed the Federal Communications Commission, United States as APPA’s 18th member.

Day One (closed session)

The first day involved only APPA member authorities and invited observers. Members presented jurisdiction reports along common themes that have emerged across the region including: legal reforms, law enforcement, mandatory data breach notification, privacy training as well as child and youth privacy programmes. Members also shared a wide range of reports on investigations and data breaches.

The meeting further discussed APPA’s future direction considering whether the statement of objectives and membership base should be expanded, and establishing a governance framework. A revised statement of objectives was agreed, and further work on other issues will be undertaken for report and endorsement at the next meeting.

Members confirmed the dates of Privacy Awareness Week 2016 as 1–7 May 2016.

Members discussed issues relating to facilitating transparency reporting by companies about personal information requested by and disclosed to government agencies for law enforcement or national security purposes.

Day Two (closed and open session)

A closed session of the meeting considered the global privacy developments and updates in APEC Data Privacy Sub-group, International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners, Global Privacy Enforcement Network and the Ibero-American Network of Data Protection. Members considered the privacy implications of big data and the required response from regulators, and agreed to further consider the subject collectively. Other issues discussed included policy position on online behavioural advertising and related investigations, regulation of public domain data, and accountability as the basis for privacy compliance in technology innovations.

The second half of the meeting was an open session that was attended by a government official as well as local and international privacy experts and practitioners.  The meeting was updated on the privacy laws in People’s Republic of China and Chinese Taipei, and shared information and discussed various privacy issues ranging from managing health and research data, open data, big data, and smart city.

Next meeting

The 44th meeting will be hosted by the Office for Personal Data Protection, Macao.

The 45th meeting will be hosted by the Personal Data Protection Commission, Singapore.

The 46th meeting will be hosted by the National Institute for Transparency, Access to Information and Personal Data Protection, Mexico.

Participants

• Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, Hong Kong (Host)
• Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, Australia
• Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia, Canada
• Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
• Personal Information Protection Commission, Korea
• Korea Internet and Security Agency
• The Office for Personal Data Protection, Macao
• National Institute for Transparency, Access to Information and Personal Data Protection, Mexico
• Office of the Privacy Commissioner, New Zealand
• Personal Data Protection Commission, Singapore
• Office of the Commissioner for Privacy and Data Protection, Victoria
• Federal Communications Commission, United States
• Federal Trade Commission, United States

Officials from the following Government organisations attended the meeting as observers:

• Specific Personal Information Protection Commission, Japan
• Consumer Affairs Agency, Japan