BVI Joins The Countries With Enacted Personal Data Protection Regimes

The government of British Virgin Islands (hereinafter "BVI") has passed on the 6th of April 2021 the Data Protection Act (hereinafter referred to as the "DPA").

The DPA was published in the gazette of the BVI government on 13th of April but has not come into force yet. The date of enactment of the newly passed Act will be announced by the Government soon.

The purpose of this new regime is for the BVI to reach a status equivalent with those of United Kingdom and European Union in this particular area by providing protection of personal data processed by public and private bodies and for related matters.

The DPA applies to:

1. "Private Body" (an entity only in its capacity as it carries on any trade, business or profession or has legal personality), a person who processes or a person who has control over or authorises the "processing" of any personal data in respect of commercial transactions. "commercial transaction" is defined by the DPA as any transaction