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As we have written in the past, APEC’s Cross-Border Privacy Rules (CBPR) program is intended to help companies more easily transfer personal data across borders. Participating companies complete self-assessments and participate with their local countries’ “accountability agent.” There are currently seven participating economies, which include the US, Canada, Japan. Those participating economies recently announced the development of a “Global CBPR Forum.” The Forum is tasked with, inter alia, creating an international certification system, reviewing members’ privacy standards, and ensuring that the program is “interoperable with other data protection and privacy frameworks.”
Continue Reading Formation of CBPR Forum Signals Continued Movement

2018 saw two new members of APEC’s Cross Border Privacy Rules (CBPR) system: Australia and Chinese Taipei. They join the US, Mexico, Canada, Japan, South Korea and Singapore. As we have reported on previously, the CBPR system is meant to help companies transfer information between participating countries. In the coming months, Australia’s Attorney General plans to work with businesses to implement the system. The Chinese Development Council also plans to work with China’s ministries and departments to boost discussions about privacy protection with other countries. The system has often been compared to other cross-border schemes, including the Privacy Shield (see our update to that program). Companies join by completing self-assessments and participating with an “accountability agent” (in the US, there is only one approved accountability agent).
Continue Reading CBPR System Grows with Entry of Australia and Chinese Taipei

Late last year, Australia’s Attorney General confirmed that Australia planned to participate in APEC’s Cross Border Privacy Rules (CBPR) system. The CBPR system was intended to help companies that want to transfer personal data across the borders of participating countries. Currently there are five participating countries: Canada, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, and the US. This scheme has been viewed by some as a hopeful complement to the Binding Corporate Rules concept under the EU Data Privacy Directive. In recognition of the overlap between the two, the Article 29 Working Party and the APEC Electronic Steering Group put together a checklist of the commonalities between Binding Corporate Rules and CBPR certification.
Continue Reading As GDPR Looms, Australia to Participate in APEC’s CBPR Program