Since 2018, the Malaysian Government has endeavoured to continuously review and update the Personal Data Protection Act 2010 ("PDPA"). However, the tabling of the draft amendments ("Draft Bill") has been delayed for a variety of reasons.
The current Minister of Communications and Digital ("New Minister") has now been tasked with overseeing the proposed amendments to the PDPA. Based on the information obtained from the Department of Personal Data Protection ("JPDP"), it is understood that the confirmed proposed amendments in the Draft Bill will most likely be retained, with the possibility of expanding the scope of the Draft Bill to include additional amendments on other aspects of the PDPA.
At this juncture, the New Minister and JPDP have not provided confirmation about the additional amendments; however, the New Minister has highlighted two areas that are being considered, namely (i) increased penalties for misuse of data or breach of the PDPA in general, and (ii) increased enforcement powers and the elevation of JPDP into a statutory commission.
The new Draft Bill is currently scheduled to be tabled at the end of 2023.
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