In the special session of 9 November 2022, the Chamber of Deputies granted the necessary approval for Congress to pass Law 27,699 by means of which the Argentine Republic ratifies the Amending Protocol with respect to the Automated Processing of Personal Data (“Convention 108+”). To complete the ratification process, the National Executive Branch will now study the law and, if approved, it will be published in the Official Gazette.
With the enactment of the new Cinema Law 2022, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MOCST) is developing a draft decree guiding the Cinema Law. After a one-month public consultation period, the MOCST made substantial updates to the Draft Decree and submitted the latest version to the Ministry of Justice for appraisal. The content of the latest version reflects the majority of the comments and recommendations suggested by industry stakeholders, evidencing how effective and influential policy advocacy can be.
The UK government has recently published its roadmap for regulating AI as a medical device (AIaMD) and software as a medical device (SaMD). This will form part of the basis of the upcoming UK Medical Device Regulation reforms in 2024. In light of the operational difficulties faced by the NHS, AIaMD and SaMD are attractive solutions to alleviate pressures on the UK health system. Yet these products are complex and require a high level of regulatory scrutiny to ensure effectiveness and protect the safety of patients.
We would like to cordially invite you to our hybrid briefing “Crossroads between Employment Law and Data Protection” on 5 December 2022. It will take place both on-site in our Baker McKenzie office in Berlin and globally online.
The Ministry of Communications and Information tabled the Online Safety (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill for its first reading in Parliament on 3 October 2022, setting out proposed regulations of providers of online communication services with significant reach or impact accessible by any Singapore end-user, as well as measures to prevent access to egregious content. The aim of the Bill is to enhance online user safety, particularly for children, and to curb the spread of harmful content on OCS. Designated providers of such OCS will have to comply with Codes of Practice issued by the Info-communications Media Development Authority to enhance online safety for Singapore end-users and curb the spread of harmful content on their service.
On 19 October 2022, the Health Sciences Authority issued an alert on fake HSA accounts on the TikTok platform. The HSA stated that it does not have a TikTok account and advised members of the public not to click on any links or respond to these fake accounts.
As part of the multi-pronged effort by the Infocomm Media Development Authority and other stakeholders to combat scams and safeguard SMS messaging as a communications channel, the IMDA will implement two measures following a public consultation: (i) mandatory registration with the Singapore SMS Sender ID Registry: Registration with the SSIR will be mandatory for all organizations that use SMS Sender IDs, and (ii) telecommunications operators to implement SMS anti-scam filtering solutions: Anti-scam filtering solutions will be implemented by telecommunications operators within their mobile networks to automatically filter potential scam messages before they reach consumers.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore has issued a consultation paper proposing additional regulatory safeguards, particularly around retail customer access, business conduct measures and technology risk management for cryptocurrency players. The MAS seeks to extend its regulatory focus beyond money laundering and terrorism financing risks, to holistically strengthen the regulatory framework, limit consumer harm and better address fraud protection in light of recent incidents, while acknowledging the need not to hamper digital innovation. The MAS proposes that these new requirements, once issued in the form of guidelines, will apply not only to licensed digital payment token service providers licensed under the Payment Services Act 2019, but also to those currently operating under a transitional exemption from licensing while their license applications are being reviewed.
On 4 October 2022, the Council of the European Union definitively approved the Digital Services Act, maintaining unchanged the content proposed by the European Parliament. On 5 July 2022, the European Parliament also approved the articles of the Digital Market Act still pending a final vote in the Council. The Digital Market Act and the Digital Services Act regulate the legal status of providers of intermediary services (e.g., online platforms such as marketplaces, search engines, social networks, hosting services, etc.) and thus also affect other actors (users and businesses of all sizes) interacting through their services.
Phase 2 of the new inspection regime of the register of the Companies Registry will come into effect from 24 October 2022, allowing Hong Kong companies to, among others, limit disclosure to the public certain personal information of their directors and secretaries. Under Phase 2 of the New Inspection Regime, the usual residential address and full identification number of directors and company secretaries will be replaced with the correspondence address and partial IDNs. Protected Information contained in documents filed for registration on or after 24 October 2022 will not be available for public inspection although Specified Persons may apply to access the Protected Information.