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Amendment Bill to the Personal Data Protection Act 2010 Tabled for First Reading in the Malaysian Parliament
On 10 July 2024, Digital Minister Gobind Singh tabled the long-awaited Personal Data Protection (Amendment) Bill 2024 (“Amendment Bill”) for its first reading before the Dewan Rakyat (or House of Representatives).
The Amendment Bill is scheduled to be debated in its second and third readings during the ongoing parliamentary session. This means that we may see the Amendment Bill passed at the Dewan Rakyat level by the end of next week, unless further amendments to the Amendment Bill are required pursuant to the outcome of the debate.
This Update provides an overview of the key changes that will be introduced by the Amendment Bill.
News Alert: PDPA Amendments to be Tabled in the Final Week of the Current Parliamentary Session
Digital Minister, Gobind Singh, has announced that the Cabinet has approved the proposed amendments to the Personal Data Protection Act 2010 ("PDPA").
The long-awaited PDPA amendment bill is now scheduled to be tabled in Parliament during the last week of the ongoing June-July 2024 session, specifically sometime between July 15 and July 18.
Key proposed amendments that will be introduced include:
- Introduction of a mandatory data breach notification regime
- New obligation for data users and data processors to appoint data protection officer
- Direct obligation for data processors to comply with the Security Principle under the PDPA
- Introduction of a right to data portability for data subjects
- Removal of the whitelisting regime for cross-border data transfers
- Increased financial penalties for breaches of the PDPA
- Inclusion of biometric data as a type of sensitive personal data
These amendments will align Malaysia’s data protection regulatory framework with recent developments in the data protection regulatory landscape at the regional and international level.
Businesses are advised to stay informed about the changes that will be introduced by the PDPA amendment bill. We will provide further updates on the new requirements as well as the steps businesses will need to take to ensure continued compliance with the PDPA when handling personal data, once the amendment bill is tabled in Parliament and made available to the public.
This Alert is issued by the following Contact Partners from the Technology, Media and Telecommunications & Data Protection Practice Group:
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Deepak Pillai F +60 3 2273 8310 deepak.pillai@christopherleeong.com
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Intan Haryati F +60 3 2273 8310 |
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Anissa Maria Anis T +60 3 2675 2674 F +60 3 2273 8310 anissa.anis@christopherleeong.com
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Yong Shih Han F +60 3 2273 8310 |
The Rise of Johor as a Data Centre Hub
Data centres have seen a boom due the world's growing reliance on cloud-based technology and consumption of online content. More recently, data centre investments have become a strategic imperative for the Artificial Intelligence ("AI") era, given the massive amounts of compute and data involved in the training, testing and deployment of AI solutions and applications. The escalating strategic competition between the United States and China has motivated companies from both China and the West to broaden their horizons and grow their presence in Southeast Asia, particularly in the semiconductor and digital infrastructure sectors. This trend has triggered a surge in the establishment of data centres across the Southeast Asian region, in particular Johor, Malaysia.
In this update, we will delve into the factors that drive the growing interest for data centre investments in Johor, and provide a brief overview on some of the issues that organisations should consider as they contemplate shifting to set up data centre operations in Johor.