Kazakhstan Introduces New Privacy Law

The government of the Republic of Kazakhstan has announced that Kazakhstan's framework data protection law, Law No. 94-V (unofficial English version), has been enacted and will be effective as of November 25, 2013. Kazakhstan is now the second country in Central Asia to enact a data privacy law.

The new statute governs the protection of human rights in the collection and processing of personal data in Kazakhstan. Law No. 94-V will operate in conjunction with existing regulatory rules for data processing, in contrast with the old version of the law, which regulated personal data protection on a sector-specific basis. Law No. 94-V does not appoint a central data protection authority; instead, each state agency is expected to supervise data protection practices within the industry or government sector for which it is responsible.