January

On October 25, 2013, the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress passed an amendment to the 1993 Law of Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests, which addresses longstanding issues related to e-commerce fraud and illegal disclosures of consumers' personal information. The Amendment, which takes effect on March 15, 2014. The passage of the Amendment comes on the heels of a flurry of legislation aimed at strengthening the protection of personal information in China, including the Decision on Strengthening Protection of Online Information , the Provisions on the Protection of the Personal Information of Telecommunications, and the Internet Users and the Provisions on Registration of the True Identity Information of Phone Users . Collectively, the new legislation related to the protection of personal information has significantly advanced and clarified China's data protection regime. The Amendment applies to any company that provides goods or services to consumers within China. Unlike some of the recent privacy-related regulations and guidelines issued by the Chinese government, the Consumer Protection Law, as amended by the Amendment, sets forth more specific requirements related to the processing of personal information and applies broadly to all companies providing goods or services to consumers in China. Thus, it is important for companies operating in China to review their practices related to the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information in China and take the necessary steps to achieve compliance with the Amendment's privacy-related provisions by March 15, 2014.

In an increasingly competitive environment, multinational companies continue to expand and move into new and unfamiliar territories, either to take advantage of lower operating costs, a cheaper workforce, access to untapped natural resources or what is perceived as a potentially large market. In their haste to take advantage of these 'attractions ', companies often fail to carry out the necessary due-diligence and research to identify the potential risks and pitfalls associated with such a venture. Indonesia, like many other developing countries, aside from presenting attractive opportunities also presents a variety of potential risks to which investors may be exposed and vulnerable. These risks range from six years of political and economic turmoil, a history of civil unrest, religious conflict and the threat posed by Islamic extremist groups, socio-economic issues and the resulting effect of increased unemployment. Organisations seeking to enter and do business in Indonesia need to mitigate these risks by putting in place a well planned risk management strategy to ensure from the outset that they have carried out not only an assessment of the risks, but are also well positioned to manage any situation that may present a threat to their assets be it people, proprietary information, property or reputation. Doing so naturally reduces the chances of a company becoming a victim, but also minimizes the likely fallout in the event an incident were to occur.

"State Services Minister Jonathan Coleman and Internal Affairs Minister Chris Tremain say there will be a stronger focus on privacy and security across government with the creation of a Government Chief Privacy Officer (GCPO). ""The Department of Internal Affairs is being realigned to strengthen privacy and security across the public service,"" said Coleman. ""The creation of a Government Chief Privacy Officer gives additional support to the Government Chief Information Officer (GCIO) to set standards and provide leadership and assurance that privacy is managed appropriately."" The GCIO is leading a two year programme to ensure New Zealanders have trust and confidence that their information is secure by improving information privacy and security practices in government. The GCPO role will lead an all-of-government approach to privacy and will be responsible for providing leadership, assurance and advice on privacy issues, support to agencies to meet their privacy responsibilities, and coordinated engagement with the Privacy Commissioner. Internal Affairs will work closely with the Privacy Commissioner to develop the new function. State sector chief executives remain accountable for privacy in their agencies and Ministry of Justice continues to manage privacy policy."