On 10 July 2024, Digital Minister, Gobind Singh Deo ("Minister") tabled the long-awaited Personal Data Protection (Amendment) Bill 2024 ("Amendment Bill"), which has been in development since 2018, for the Malaysian Parliament's approval.
The Minister aims to secure the approval for the Amendment Bill from both houses of Parliament, namely, the House of Representatives (Dewan Rakyat) and the Senate (Dewan Negara), during the current parliamentary session, which concludes in July 2024. The Amendment Bill was passed at the House of Representatives on 16 July 2024, and is currently awaiting the Senate's approval.
Key proposed changes as stipulated in the Amendment Bill are as follows:
- Replacement of the term "data users" with "data controllers";
- Recognition of biometric data as sensitive personal data;
- Increased penalties for breach of the personal data protection principles;
- Extension of the Security Principle to data processors;
- New data protection officer appointment obligation;
- New mandatory data breach notification obligation;
- New right to data portability for data subjects; and
- Removal of whitelisting regime for cross-border data transfers.
For more information about the key changes that will be introduced by the Amendment Bill, please click here for our Legal Update.
