Amendments to information laws were passed by MPs on Friday, taking the island a step closer to having mandated personal data protection.

Vance Campbell, the Minister of Tourism and the Cabinet Office, said that although Bermuda residents knew much about one another, there remained an expectation of privacy.

He explained that the Personal Information Protection Amendment Act 2023 was to harmonise the Personal Information Protection Act 2016, the Public Access to Information Act 2010 and the Pati Regulations 2014.

Mr Campbell told the House of Assembly: “Privacy legislation, also referred to as data protection or informational privacy, provides for an important human right and forms a critical building block in the creation of a successful information society.

“Pipa was designed to protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals relating to the use of their personal information.

“Pipa places duties on the use of personal information on organisations in Bermuda, including public authorities.”

Although a few provisions in Pipa came into effect in 2016, the legislation is to come fully into force on January 1, 2025.

Mr Campbell said: “Pati and Pipa together provide Bermuda with a robust information rights framework.”

He added: “Pati provides the public with access to records held by public authorities.

“At this time, this allows individuals to request access to their own personal information and to request amendments to personal information that is held by public authorities.

“This Bill will resolve the conflicting and overlapping provisions currently found in Pati and the Pati Regulations 2014 with the Pipa to ensure one definition of personal information and one legislative regime to request and correct one’s own personal information.

“Once Pipa is in force, individuals will access and amend their own personal information via Pipa. Therefore, a few changes will be made to Pati in respect to this.”

The latest Bill increases the time frame in Pipa from three months to six for the Privacy Commissioner to prepare year-end annual reports.

Mr Campbell said: “In Bermuda, we live in a small, caring community where being neighbourly and sharing information is a natural part of life.

“Although we may know a lot about each other, we all have an expectation of privacy.

“As we prepare our organisations for the commencement of Pipa on January 1, 2025, we bring on a culture shift within this small community of ours.

“It will change the way we perceive personal information and its value.”

Jarion Richardson, the One Bermuda Alliance deputy leader, told the House: “We are connected in a digital world, so it’s absolutely crucial that we have privacy legislation and legislation that protects personal information.

“Our biggest problem with this particular regime is that the substantive portions of it are in fact not in force, so in this legislation … passed in 2016, it is a great idea, but it’s an idea that has not yet come to pass, and this is exceptionally dangerous for us in Bermuda.”

He highlighted that as business is carried out across borders, the island was at a disadvantage compared with jurisdictions where privacy laws were robust, for example during due diligence processes on transactions.

Mr Richardson said: “Equally, there are organisations in Bermuda that are in possession of our personal information and they, right now, do not have a regulatory framework which dictates how they’re going to handle that information, how they’re going to safeguard that information and giving us rights to amend or have that information deleted.

“This is something we’ve seen globally developing now for some ten, 15 years, so we really are behind the eight-ball on this one and need to get this done, right away.”

Jaché Adams, of the Progressive Labour Party, encouraged members of the public to familiarise themselves with Pipa “because it is real and it is coming”.

He added that the amendment Bill was “a clear step forward in moving the Government closer to the full implementation of Pipa”.

Mr Adams said: “I think it’s common sense and appropriate for individuals to be able to access and amend their personal information under the Personal Information Protection Act and no longer under Pati.”

Cole Simons, the leader of the OBA, said his party supported the Bill.

Speaking about Pipa, he added: “Individuals will have more control over their information and how it is used and controlled.

“In addition, individuals will also be a regulator of their own personal information.

“There could be 60,000 individual regulators.

“This information could include healthcare information, travel data, vaccination data and spending habits.”

The amendment Act was passed without objection.