MACAU SAR, CHINA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Pedro Cortés and Luís Rôlo, Lektou, Advogados e Notários
Lektou, Advogados e Notários Avenida da Amizade, 555 Landmark Office Tower 23rd Floor Macau SAR
Tel: +853 2856 2322 Fax: +853 2858 0991 Email: mail@lektou.com Web: www.lektou.com
Legal Framework The Personal Data Protection Act of Macau (PDPA) was enacted by Law No 8/2005 and fol - lows very closely the text of the former Portu - guese Act of 1998, with the notable exception of the provisions on the Public Authority for Per - sonal Data Protection. The Act on Video Surveillance in Public Areas was enacted by Law No 2/2012. The Personal Data Protection Bureau (PDPB) is the public authority with regulatory and supervi - sory powers, created in 2023 by Administrative Regulation No 42/2023. It succeeded the former Office for Personal Data Protection (OPDP). The PDPB is a permanent Bureau of the Public Administration of the Macau Special Adminis - trative Region and, despite not having a formal independent status, it is placed under the direct authority of the Chief Executive, not under a Secretary of the government. This means that the PDPD is not under the authority of other public administration bodies in the performance of its regulatory and supervi - sion powers.
It is expected that the new PDPB will apply for membership to the Global Privacy Assembly, currently having the status of an Observer. The substantive law framework in Macau has not seen a significant change in the last few years, and no plans to legislate in the field of personal data protection have been announced. The previously reported concerns, namely regarding a duty of notification of data breaches to data subjects, provision for mandatory pri - vacy officers in relevant controllers, preliminary assessments of impact on privacy to be carried out by large-scale controllers, and duties in con - nection to further transfers in the case of cross- border transfer of personal data, remain current and may be addressed by the new PDPB in the near future. With the emergence of AI, the resil - ience of the PDPA is under additional pressure. Another area where the Macau SAR may con - sider a revision of the legal framework is the requirement for notification (registration) of pro - cessing of personal data with the PDPB. This notification is an administrative require - ment, not necessarily followed by an assess - ment of the lawfulness of the notified processing of personal data.
295 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook