May

"DLA Piper has attacked the problem of surveying the world's data protection laws and regulations with a handy online and interactive guidebook for which they've released version 2.0. It begins with a map of the world, with countries colored to indicate the strength of their privacy laws and then you have tabbed options for turning the page to see a specific country's law, regulator contact information and then specifics on how a country regulates anything from infosecurity to breaches to electronic marketing. It's also possible to set two countries side by side and compare the way they regulate date protection. They offer a mobile interface, or you can download all of the information in a readable PDF. ""People are saying, 'You're crazy to give away this kind of information,'"" said DLA Piper Partner Patrick Van Eecke. ""But our strategy is that we can give away this kind of information because we want to get into more complex legal situations like developing strategies for data protection."" There are 65 different jurisdictions covered in the tool. As a living, breathing online organism, it will require almost constant updates so as not to become quickly outdated. "

"In its latest international survey, leading global search and selection specialist, Antal International, has found that employment markets at managerial and professional level around the world are stabilising. The 'Global Snapshot ' project asked more than 10,500 businesses in major markets in 40 key countries around the world whether they were currently hiring or firing at managerial and professional level and if they were planning on doing so in the next three months. The results show that average hiring levels across the globe have dropped slightly as 51% of companies are currently planning to take on staff. This is a reduction of 3% from the June 2013 edition of the Snapshot, but represents an increase of 5% year-on-year. This is expected to remain fairly consistent in the next quarter. The number of companies letting go of staff stands at 16%, a reduction of 3% since June 2013 and in line with figures from January 2013 where the same score was recorded. ""At the very least these results indicate increased stability within the market,"" said Antal Chairman, Tony Goodwin. ""It will be interesting to see how this develops in the next quarter, but for now the signs are promising."""

"The Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Act 2012 was passed in November 2012 and includes a new set of harmonised privacy principles that regulate the handling of personal information by both Australian businesses and government agencies. Unfortunately, these commendable changes introduce problems that reflect the ambiguity of the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) legislation in the U.S. Enacted in 2002, the SOX law enhanced standards for U.S. public company boards, management and public accounting firms that required top management to The Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Act 2012 was passed in November 2012 and includes a new set of harmonised privacy principles that regulate the handling of personal information by both Australian businesses and government agencies. Unfortunately, these commendable changes introduce problems that reflect the ambiguity of the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) legislation in the U.S. Enacted in 2002, the SOX law enhanced standards for U.S. public company boards, management and public accounting firms that required top management to individually certify the accuracy of financial information, applying much more severe penalties for fraudulent financial activity. While SOX has raised the compliance bar for corporate reporting, it has had the unintended impact of creating a lot of uncertainty due to lack of precision. In fact, SOX compliance costs and complexity have run out of control in the U.S. Australian organisations will face the same dilemma with the new Australian privacy law - they ""must take reasonable steps"" to demonstrate compliance with the new legislation without a clear understanding of exactly what is required. To successfully comply, both public and private sector organisations need to take special note of key changes to the law and act now to prepare for March 2014.
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