Law on Personal Data and its Overseeing Authority must be Accelerated

The Indonesian Government is formulating a new draft on the law on Personal Data Protection (“PDP Bill”). Procedures in establishing the content of the Law usually does take sometimes, as there shall be extensive and intensive discussions and arguments between the relevant Ministry and the relevant commission at the Indonesian House of Representative. In addition, there are also hearings to be made with the expert and the general public. As this law has become a serious necessity, to keep in pace international trend where many countries have already been promulgated such laws, Indonesia must do the same in a hurry. It is very clear that this law is definitely prompted by the advance use of the internet.

It is expected that the proposed law will contain the provision pertaining to an authority which will oversee the implementation of the law. The existence of the overseeing authority is a crucial part of the law. However, there are arguments on whether this authority shall be an institution within a government’s ministry or whether this institution shall be an authority that is fully independent from the government structure. This issue remains undecided. The government tends to use the former by utilizing the Ministry of Communication and Informatics for efficiency reason, whereas some components of the parliaments and the political parties tend to favor the latter. Arguments and discussions on this matter is still ongoing.

Indonesian legal academics and scholars are very much in favor of establishment of an independent institution. The most important reason is that the overseeing authority must be able to supervise the public institution. If the authority is given to institution within government ministry, there is concern that it may not be able to enforce the law against public institution.  Also, the independent overseeing authority may be better prepared and equipped to do the supervision. They also argue that Japan has utilized an existing government institution, but found out that it was not efficient and later establish an independent institution.

Considering the rapid development of technology, Indonesia must protect personal data of its citizen. To do this, it is essential to have PDP Law quickly enacted and have all the necessary supporting overseeing authority in place and actively enforce the law. The law makers in close cooperation with the government and all stakeholders must ensure that the process runs smoothly and no time is wasted. (dnk/nam)

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For further inquiries on this topic, please feel free to contact Mr. Danny Kobrata at danny.kobrata@kk-advocates.com and Ms. Nadia Maulida at nadia.maulida@kk-advocates.com.

(Tulisan di atas adalah merupakan artikel dan tidak dapat dianggap sebagai advis atau opini hukum dari penulis dan/atau kantor hukum K&K Advocates).