Privacy trust mark eyed for companies

MANILA, Philippines — The National Privacy Commission (NPC) expects to come up with a privacy trust mark to be given to companies which comply with data privacy standards as part of efforts to promote data protection.

 “This is voluntary [for companies]. If they want to level up, later on, this could be a differentiator from competitors,” said NPC commissioner Raymund Liboro.

Liboro said a privacy trust mark would be an advantage to a firm as it would show customers the company could be trusted with handling data provided to them.

“Some Filipinos would drop a company they don’t trust. They would choose a company over another that can be trusted more in terms of data,” he said.

The latest Unisys Security Index showed Filipino consumers consider data breach as a major concern.

Apart from coming up with a Philippine privacy trust mark, Liboro said the Philippines also hopes to become a member of the APEC CBPR this year.

He said the NPC formally submitted the country’s letter of intent to be the ninth economy to join the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Cross Border Privacy Rules (APEC CBPR) system last Aug.18 in Chile.

APEC CBPR is a voluntary, accountability-based system that facilitates privacy-respecting data flows among APEC economies.

Economies currently part of the APEC CBPR are Australia, Chinese Taipei, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Singapore and the US.

After securing membership to the APEC CBPR, Liboro said the NPC would choose an accountability agent which will ensure privacy policies and practices of participating companies which comply with the system before certifying them.

Like the Philippine privacy trust mark, securing certification from the accountability agent would be on a voluntary basis for companies.

“Our certification would be recognized in all jurisdictions. For companies that would require cross border flows with the Philippines, this would be a seal of good housekeeping so to speak, that the company they are dealing with has reached that standard,” Liboro said.