The lack of legislation on data privacy is a growing cause of concern for prospective investors and a substantial hindrance to the development of the BPO sector in the Philippines, the Joint Foreign Chambers and the business processing outsourcing industry warned.
This was the position submitted by the JFC to the Senate Committee on Science and Technology joint with Constitutional Amendments, Revision of Codes & Laws; Civil Service and Government Reorganization; and Finance on the proposed bill on Data Privacy.
“The lack of legislation on data privacy is a growing cause of concern for prospective investors and a substantial hindrance to the development of the sector in the Philippines,” the statement said.
According to the foreign business group, “There is a real danger of losing investors to countries with a more favorable legislative framework for IT-BPO. The absence of protection against data piracy is a key issue for IT-BPOs’
offshore clients in the US and some European countries that move large amounts of data across borders which must be protected against unlawful access or even being sold for commercial or personal gain. The lack of punishment for violators is of great concern to stakeholders.”
The Data Privacy bill was among the three non-fiscal bills filed in the 14th Congress but was not passed.
These bills are important to strengthening the legal framework of the industry: the Cyber Crime Prevention Act, the bill to create a Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), and the Data Privacy Act.
The first two were approved by the House but had not completed the final stages of consideration in the Senate when the legislative session adjourned.
While the Data Privacy bill primarily benefits the country’s growing IT-BPO industry it also aims to protect private citizens whose personal data are stored by government offices and commercial establishments, the JFC said.
If passed, the Data Privacy law would require all types of offices whether government or private to keep personal information from clients, customers or citizens and not to share it without prior consent from users.
Information technology and business process outsourcing (IT-BPO) is the fastest-growing employment sector, and one of the highest revenue generating economic sectors in the Philippines Tuesday. The potential remains extremely strong because of its current size, high growth rate, and potential to employ millions of Filipinos.
The Philippines has several clear advantages: a large workforce; a large pool of educated, English-speaking talent with a strong customer-service orientation; 450,000 college graduates annually; highly-reliable low-cost international telecommunications infrastructure; diverse and inexpensive suitable site locations; and strong government support.
To view the original article by Bernie Cahiles-Magkilat published in the Manila Bulletin, click here.
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