Jamaicans are being urged to get acquainted with the eight data-protection standards outlined in the Data Protection Act, 2020.
While the Act will take full effect in 2023, the Information Commissioner in the Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC), Celia Barclay, told JIS News that citizens must get a full understanding of what is required of them.
Ms. Barclay is also making a special appeal to data controllers, who handle and determine how individuals’ personal information is used.
A data controller can be a business owner or a teller who has access to customers’ banking details or a small community “pardna” banker.
“Although data protection is fairly new, everyone needs to ascertain how the different provisions of the Data Protection Act, particularly the data protection standards, apply to their specific data processing activities. And [they must] implement the most appropriate measures to ensure compliance,” she said.
Processing means any possible use of information that can identify a living person or someone who has been dead for up to 30 years.
The Information Commissioner advises data controllers to seek professional advice and technical assistance from a data privacy practitioner.
“There are several [data privacy practitioners] who are already operating in the market offering a range of services, legal and technical, to data controllers,” Ms. Barclay said.
Individuals are also being encouraged to learn and assert their rights as data subjects. This includes a right to knowing what personal data is being processed by a controller, the purpose for which it is being processed, how exactly it is being processed and to whom the data is disclosed during processing.
“Also, data subjects who have reason to believe their personal data is being misused can make a complaint to the controller and require that same be discontinued or remedied,” she said.
The passage of the Data Protection Act, 2020 made provision for the establishment of the OIC, which is currently being operationalised.
The OIC is responsible for monitoring compliance with the Act and attendant regulations as well as advising the Government on matters relating to data protection and access to information, among other things.
