For immediate release
(29 January 2024, Hamilton) – Data Privacy Week (DPW)1 2024 begins today, 29 January 2024. This year, the annual global event serves as the launching block for the 2024 “Road to PIPA” (R2P) implementation plan in Bermuda. 1 January 2025 will mark the official implementation date for the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA). This date was announced by The Hon. Vance Campbell, JP, MP on 15 June 2023.
“I am pleased to hear that The Office of the Privacy Commissioner is announcing its Road to PIPA to assist organisations to become compliant with the Act and I am confident that Bermuda will be ready when the PIPA legislation comes into force on January 1, 2025,” said Minister Campbell in response to the DPW 2024 launch of the Road to PIPA.
In the year preceding the full enactment of PIPA, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Bermuda (PrivCom) will continue to offer guidance to Bermuda’s organisations and individuals so that the Island is prepared for the legislation to take effect. This year’s DPW will open with a press conference announcing the launch of the Road to PIPA implementation plan.
Commissioner White said: “PrivCom will be using the start of Data Privacy Week 2024 as a vehicle for the launch of our Road to PIPA (R2P) implementation plan: PrivCom’s 12-month PIPA compliance strategy for organisations in Bermuda in preparation for the full implementation date on 1 January 2025.” The details of the R2P strategy will be updated regularly at www.privacy.bm.
During the press conference, which takes place on Monday, 29 January 2024 at 1pm at PrivCom’s offices, privacy ambassadors representing the business community and the public sector will sign an intent statement, thus expressing their organisations’ commitment to protecting the personal information of individuals in Bermuda. Following the press conference, the intent statement will be available on PrivCom’s website for CEOs representing organisations to sign: a call to action for the business community in Bermuda.
PrivCom will be working with both organisations and individuals in Bermuda throughout the year 2024. The R2P implementation plan is primarily focusing on readying organisations for PIPA compliance in order for them to meet their legal obligations once PIPA is fully implemented. PrivCom will be posting new materials on a dedicated R2P webpage every week, and later in 2024, materials regarding individual privacy rights will be highlighted.
Gretchen Tucker, privacy ambassador and an attorney in Bermuda known for advising on information law and organisational governance said: “All working professionals in Bermuda are stakeholders in the success of PIPA. As individuals, we have a vested interest in making sure that organisations in Bermuda are preparing to use our personal information in accordance with the up-coming statutory requirements, while working to ensure that our own organisations are doing the same. Our own sensitive personal information and that of our families and children is already being used by a broad range of professionals in the IT, HR, Legal and Medical fields, not to mention in the Education, Government, Insurance and Hospitality sectors. Some of that use occurs with our knowledge and consent however there are occasions when such use occurs without our knowledge and consent. To date, we have largely relied on those individuals and their corresponding organisations to conduct themselves in a manner that supports our wellbeing and autonomy as a matter of policy and professional practice and now PIPA is intended to ensure the same via a series of express statutory obligations. This is a welcomed development.”
Other public events held during Data Privacy Week 2024 include a Data Privacy Compliance Seminar hosted by DIGICEL on Wednesday, 31 January, and a virtual Bermuda KnowledgeNet meeting organised by the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) on Thursday, 1 February.
On 1 February, PrivCom will participate for the first time in the annual Global Privacy Enforcement Network (GPEN) Privacy Sweep. GPEN connects privacy enforcement authorities from around the world to promote and support cooperation in cross-border enforcement of laws protecting privacy. “This sweep will be a first for Bermuda, and it is a wonderful opportunity for our investigators to work alongside global colleagues. We will be systematically evaluating local organisations’ websites for compliance with aspects of PIPA to set a baseline for privacy improvements. In addition to providing a snapshot of compliance in the community pre-PIPA, the sweep results will help us understand where further guidance is needed or beneficial,” said Commissioner White.
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To learn more about PrivCom and PIPA, go to our Press Background page.
To reach out to PrivCom, please visit our Contact page.
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1 DPW is celebrated in honour of Data Privacy Day on 28 January. Data Privacy Day marks the anniversary of a milestone treaty: the Council of Europe’s Convention 108 that enshrined privacy as a fundamental human right. In 1981, numerous countries in Europe came together and committed to respect their citizens’ privacy; and in 2018, the Amending protocol CETS No. 223, so-called Convention 108+, was adopted. While more and more countries have domestic laws that protect privacy like Bermuda’ Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA), Convention 108 remains the only treaty that legally binds countries under the terms of international law.