Lawyers claim data protection too costly
Alasdair Robertson, President, Cayman Law Society
(CNS): As the Cayman Islands continues to wait on laws to address the legislative gap it has regarding protecting information, the legal profession has made it clear that it feels there is no hurry to introduce the proposed Data Protection Law because it will cost too much. One of many stakeholders that have been involved in the consultation process of the proposed legislation, the Cayman Islands Law Society is “struggling to understand the necessity”, according to the organisation’s president.
While the attorney general has stated on a number of occasions that it is an important piece of legislation that needs to be brought into force sooner rather than later, the lawyers see things differently.
Speaking at the opening of the Grand Court last week, Alasdair Robertson, the president of the Law Society, said an enormous amount of work has gone into the draft legislation by the Data Protection Working Group and by the various members of its sub-committee but, he said, “We still struggle to understand the necessity to bring in any form of Data Protection legislation to our jurisdiction.”
He suggested that it would not be possible to introduction such a law that would not “lead to added regulation, bureaucracy and material cost to the people of the Cayman Islands in a time where Government is trying to tighten its belt”.
The lawyer said that Data Protection in the European Union, with a population of over 500 million people and a very large and diverse economy, is one thing but the Cayman Islands, with a population of around 60,000 and a much narrower economic focus, was another. However, the society would remain engaged in the process, he said.
The bill remains in draft form and recent submissions made during the consultation process are expected to be reviewed by the working group but the law still seems a long way off, leaving Cayman vulnerable when it comes to how information is stored, protected and used.
The law is aimed mainly at giving effect to the rights to privacy in relation to personal data while ensuring that certain exceptions are allowed, officials have stated.
That was a dumb comment. Premature posting – I missed the last paragraph. I apologise :-!
I think he is taking a very narrow minded view. It’s not just about people it’s about the nature of the data. And without robust data protection laws in this day and age Cayman’s days as a leading IFC will soon be over as all the investment vehicles, banks, insurers and other companies will soon move to another jurisdiction if they have no assurances that their data is protected.