BAHAMAS Law and Practice Contributed by: Judith Whitehead KC, Graham Thompson
8.2 Geographical Scope A foreign company targeting customers within The Bahamas will be governed by the provi - sions of the DPA where it is deemed a data con - troller and establishes a legal presence within The Bahamas for the purpose of processing personal data in the context of that establish - ment or, where no legal presence is established within The Bahamas, such data controller uses equipment in The Bahamas for processing data otherwise for the purpose of transit through The Bahamas. 8.3 Role and Authority of the Data Protection Agency The office of the Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) is established by the DPA as a corpora - tion solely to enforce data protection rules as enacted by the DPA. Its function is to regulate data controllers and processors and provide internationally accepted rules to ensure that the personal information of citizens is collected, kept up to date, stored, used, disclosed, and disposed of lawfully. The DPC is also empowered to encourage trade associations and other bodies to prepare codes of practice for dealing with personal data and to approve such codes of practice. Under the DPA, the DPC has the authority to do the following: • receive complaints of possible contraventions to the Act; • investigate contraventions to the Act; • issue enforcement notices to data controllers; • issue prohibition notices to prevent the trans - fer of personal data from The Bahamas to a place outside The Bahamas;
ment includes all such relief by way of damages, injunctions, accounts, or otherwise. 7.5 Others The government has signalled its intention to continue to modernise the country’s approach to addressing copyright, trade mark and patent protections, including areas like geographical indications, false trade descriptions, and new plant varieties, and join 11 new international conventions in the near future. It is anticipated that additional legislation will follow. The Data Protection (Privacy of Personal Infor - mation) Act (DPA) governs the protection of a living individual’s personal 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 regula - tions to: • provide additional safeguards to protect sen - sitive personal data; • prescribe offences or penalties with respect to contravention or non-compliance with the DPA; • modify the application of an individual’s right of access to personal data; and 8. Data Protection 8.1 Applicable Regulations • prescribe circumstances in which prohibition, restriction or authorisation ought to prevail over listed exceptions to the right of access to personal data.
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