Data Protection Laws of the World Handbook: Second Edition - Singapore

LAW

Singapore recently enacted a new Personal Data Protection Act 2012 (No. 26 of 2012) ("Act") on 15 October 2012. The Act will take effect in 3 phases:

• Provisions relating to the formation of the Personal Data Protection Commission ("Commission") came into force on 2 January 2013;
• Provisions relating to the National Do-Not-Call Registry ("DNC Registry") will come into force in early 2014; and
• The main data protection provisions will come into force in mid-2014.

The phased implementation of the Act serves as a transition period for organisations to review and adopt internal personal data protection policies and practices, so that they may comply with the Act. The exact dates on which the DNC Registry provisions and other data protection provisions will come into force will be announced at a later date.