Jamaica Observer published an article on August 11, 2020, on the ECLAC’s reviewing of Data Protection Laws in the Caribbean. Here’s a summary:
The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has commenced a study which will review the data protection legalization of specific Caribbean countries to assess the extent to which they are up to standard with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and international best practices in data sharing. It was shared that the benefits of implementing internationally aligned data protection and sharing legislation were discussed in a virtual expert group meeting (EGM) on July 15, 2020, which includes adopting or strengthening their data protection legislation for individual privacy rights.
The title of the study is ‘Creating an enabling environment for e-government in the Caribbean: A review of data protection and sharing legislation for alignment with the GDPR’ which will be published shortly and will make recommendations with the facilitation of cross-border transfers of data among other things.
The ECLAC Caribbean Director, Diane Quarless, stated that providing a level of data protection for personal data is the equivalent of ensuring a continuous flow of information to and from the Caribbean with significant economic value for countries in the subregion and allows Caribbean countries to operate in international markets. Representatives from various government ministries and departments responsible for data protection and other related entities were present, including The Bahamas, Cayman Islands, and Jamaica.
Reference: jamaicaobserver.com
Contributed by Racquel Bailey from Jamaica. Racquel is a member of the WISC Discord group from the G5 Cyber Security Foundation Ltd. Learn more about WISC (Women in InfoSec Caribbean) at wiscaribbean.org. WISC is a non-profit initiative supporting Caribbean women and girls to develop a career in Information Security.