BAHAMAS Law and Practice Contributed by: Judith Whitehead KC, Michaela Sumner-Budhi, Sean McWeeney Jr., Charisma Romer-Cartwright and Hubert Edwards, GrahamThompson
Although there is no formal system for copyright regis - tration, this is usually made by the owner of the copy - right or of any exclusive right in the work, together with the application and the applicable fee for exami - nation and consideration. An infringement of copyright shall be actionable at the suit of the copyright owner, and, subject to the Copy - right Act, any action for such infringement includes all such relief by way of damages, injunctions, accounts, The government has signalled its intention to continue to modernise the country’s approach to addressing copyright, trade mark and patent protections, includ - ing areas like geographical indications, false trade descriptions, and new plant varieties, and join 11 new international conventions in the near future. It is antici - pated that additional legislation will follow. or otherwise. 7.5 Others The Data Protection (Privacy of Personal Information) Act, 2003 (DPA 2003) remains the primary legislation governing the protection of a living individual’s per - sonal data in The Bahamas. The Act applies to data controllers, defined as persons that determine the purpose for which and the manner in which any personal data is used or is to be used. The Minister with responsibility for information privacy and data protection may make regulations to: • provide additional safeguards to protect sensitive personal data; • prescribe offences or penalties with respect to con - travention or non-compliance with the DPA 2003; • modify the application of an individual’s right of access to personal data; and • prescribe circumstances in which prohibition, restriction or authorisation ought to prevail over listed exceptions to the right of access to personal data. 8. Data Protection 8.1 Applicable Regulations
Though for the purposes of this section the DPA 2003 will be the legislation referenced as it is the one cur - rently in force, it should be noted that in December 2025, parliament enacted the Data Protection Act 2025 (DPA 2025). Once it is brought into force, the DPA 2025 will repeal and replace the DPA 2003. The DPA 2025 substantially modernises the Bahamian data protection framework and brings it in line with its regional counterparts such as Jamaica and the Cay - man Islands, as well as the EU’s General Data Pro - tection Regulation. Key changes under the DPA 2025 include, inter alia: • expanded categories of sensitive personal data including financial, sexual orientation, medical, genetic, and biometric data; • new statutory concepts of pseudonymisation, and profiling in the context of automated decision- making; • explicit lawful bases for processing personal data (eg, consent, contract, legal obligation, vital inter - ests, public function, and legitimate interests); • expanded data subject rights including a right to data portability and a right to compensation; • registration and record-keeping obligations on data controllers and processors (where applicable); • data breach reporting obligations; • extraterritorial reach over foreign data controllers offering goods or services to, or monitoring, data subjects in The Bahamas; • establishment of a Data Protection Appeal Tribunal and Data Protection Oversight Committee; • a prohibition on the unlawful selling or renting of personal data; and • increased administrative penalties for data breach - es. 8.2 Geographical Scope A foreign company targeting customers within The Bahamas will be governed by the provisions of the DPA 2003 where it is deemed a data controller and establishes a legal presence within The Bahamas for the purpose of processing personal data in the con - text of that establishment or, where no legal presence is established within The Bahamas, such data control - ler uses equipment in The Bahamas for processing
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