Asia Pacific Privacy Authorities discuss initiatives in Wellington

The 28^th Asia Pacific Privacy Authorities (APPA) Forum was held in Wellington, New Zealand on Friday 30th November and Saturday 1st December 2007. The Communiqué outlines the initiatives discussed at this Forum.

Back Row - From left: Mike Flahive, Assistant Commissioner, Investigations, Office of the Privacy Commissioner, New Zealand
Anthony Bendall, Deputy Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner, Victoria
Andrew Solomon, Acting Director, Corporate & Public Affairs, Office of the Privacy Commissioner, Australia
Middle Row - From Left: Katrine Evans, Assistant Commissioner, Legal, Office of the Privacy Commissioner, New Zealand
Blair Stewart, Assistant Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner, New Zealand
Carman Baggaley, Senior Policy Analyst, Office of the Privacy Commissioner, Canada
Mark, Hummerston, Assistant Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner, Australia
Philippa O'Dowd, Acting Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner, New South Wales
Alethea Sim, Senior Researcher, Korean Information Security Agency
Front Row - From Left: Helen Versey, Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner, Victoria
Roderick Woo, Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Data Protection, Hong Kong
Marie Shroff, Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner, New Zealand
Karen Curtis, Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner, Australia
Zoe Marcham, Acting Information Commissioner, Office of the Information Commissioner, Northern Territory

28^th Asia Pacific Privacy Authorities Forum

30 November - 1 December 2007

Wellington, New Zealand

Communiqué

The 28^th Asia Pacific Privacy Authorities (APPA) Forum was held in Wellington, New Zealand on Friday 30 November and Saturday 1 December 2007.

In attendance were representatives of the privacy authorities from Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Korea, New South Wales, New Zealand, Northern Territory and Victoria and, as an observer, the UK. Several New Zealand officials and a representative from the South Australian Privacy Committee participated for part of the meeting.

APPA's principal objectives are to:

facilitate the sharing of knowledge and resources between privacy authorities within the Asia Pacific
foster cooperation in privacy and data protection
promote best practice amongst privacy authorities
work continuously to improve performance of privacy authorities to achieve the important objectives set out in privacy laws.

Membership

APPA was pleased to announce that since the last meeting, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada had accepted an invitation to join, broadening the forum's membership from eight authorities to nine.

Programme

The forum received reports on developments in the various jurisdictions and held discussions on a range of privacy topics. It continued its practice of learning from other stakeholders' experiences including private industry, civil society and law reform bodies. Presentations were received from:

two technology companies developing consumer products utilising GPS and RFID
an international standard setting body involved in RFID and product coding
the New Zealand Law Commission
a charitable foundation working to keep young children safe on-line
an international NGO on developments in security breach notification.

International developments

APPA members reviewed some of the privacy initiatives taken at international level during the last 6 months and in particular discussed an APEC Pathfinder project on cross-border privacy rules and OECD work focusing on the future of the internet economy.

APPA members re-committed to progressing the implementation of the APEC Privacy Framework including working individually on some of the projects included in the Data Privacy Pathfinder work plan. The privacy regulators who make up the APPA membership see themselves as playing a significant role in furthering the work of the APEC Data Privacy Sub-Group

Privacy Awareness Week

The forum reviewed the success of the first Asia Pacific Privacy Awareness Week held earlier in the year. Discussion focused upon how to more effectively communicate privacy messages to the public. APPA members agreed to plan for a second Privacy Awareness Week to be held in the last week of August 2008.

Next meeting

The next meeting of the forum will be held in Seoul, Korea on 19-20 June 2008.

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