The National Privacy Commission (NPC) led by Commissioner Raymund Liboro heads the formation of a new working group under the Global Privacy Assembly (GPA). It is aimed at gathering and promoting data-sharing best practices to guide governments and regulators toward a post-pandemic economic recovery.

“The new working group will focus on identifying practical approaches on how personal data can be shared and used to usher in innovation and growth while protecting individual rights and promoting public trust,” said Commissioner Raymund Liboro, NPC. “The resolution of the working group also underlines the need for governments, the private sector, and the academe to prevent and be vigilant against the abuse of data sharing in the guise of public good or common good purposes.

The GPA is an international body that has been providing an avenue for privacy dialogues and collaboration for over 130 privacy and data protection authorities for the past four decades. The Assembly is organized into working groups that concentrate on its most significant initiatives.

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The creation of the group comes at a time that personal data processing has become integral to sustain a safe economic recovery amid privacy risks.

Liboro noted that concerns were already emerging in the sharing of personal data in health passports, health monitoring of incoming travelers and returning nationals, contact tracing, and handling of children’s or students’ data in e-learning technologies.

“The working group endeavors to strengthen the capacity of GPA members and observers in developing proactive responses to curb risks in data-sharing activities,” Liboro said. He also highlighted the need to integrate privacy-by-design across data-sharing processes and agreements.

The working group to be formed will build on the gains of the COVID-19 Working Group, which was created with a mandate of one year to assist and provide its members with advice on best practices, insights and practical responses regarding privacy issues during a pandemic.

The 30-member COVID-19 Working Group, despite a relatively short stint, achieved significant outcomes in furthering the mission of the GPA, including the conduct of various capacity-building activities and the two-part Compendium of Best Practices in Response to COVID-19.