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August 4 2015

Privacy Laws In Africa And The Middle East - June 2015

The privacy landscape in Africa and the Middle East, which has already changed remarkably in the past few years alone, may be on the verge of another transformation after the adoption in June 2014 of the African Union (AU) Convention on cybersecurity and data protection. The number of countries in the region may multiply far beyond the 18 countries that already have comprehensive privacy laws regulating the collection and use of personal information by the private sector. Now with the adoption of the AU Convention, which still must be ratified by 15 of the 54 member states, more countries in Africa may adopt laws to implement the AU Convention 's comprehensive (and European Union-like) privacy framework. Many of the existing regimes in the region are still in their formative stages, in large part because the regulators are not yet in place, however, in some of the countries with the more established privacy regimes, the regulators have been stepping up their enforcement efforts.