On April 21, 2022, Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Philippines, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, and the United States of America issued a  Global Cross-Border Privacy Rules Declaration announcing the establishment of the Global Cross-Border Privacy Rules Forum (“Global CBPR Forum”).  U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo, in her statement, described the establishment of the Global CBPR Forum as “the beginning of a new era of multilateral cooperation in promoting trusted global data flows” and its intent to create “first-of-their-kind data privacy certifications that help companies demonstrate compliance with internationally recognized data privacy standards.”

The five objectives of the Global CBPR Forum are to:

1.     establish an international certification system based on the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (“APEC”) Cross-Border Privacy Rules (“CBPR”) and Privacy Recognition for Processors (“PRP”) Systems;

2.     support the free flow of data and effective data protection and privacy through promotion of the Global CBPR and PRP Systems;

3.     provide a forum for information exchange and cooperation on matters related to the Global CBPR and PRP Systems;

4.     periodically review data protection and privacy standards of members to ensure Global CBPR and PRP program requirements align with best practices; and

5.     promote interoperability with other data protection and privacy frameworks.

Participation in the Global CBPR Forum is intended to be open to all jurisdictions accepting the objectives and principles of the Global CBPR Forum as outlined in the Declaration, subject to a consensus of all members.

The Global CBPR Forum will be independently administered and separate from the APEC Systems. The founding members of the Global CBPR Forum plan to transition operations of the CBPR and PRP Systems from APEC to the Global CBPR Forum and will provide at least 30 days’ notice to Accountability Agents. All approved Accountability Agents and certified companies will automatically be recognized in the new Global CBPR Forum based on the same terms as are recognized within the APEC CBPR and PRP Systems.

Additional information is available on the Global Cross-Border Privacy Rules Declaration FAQs, including information on how the Global CBPR Forum relates to the APEC CBPR and PRP Systems.

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