Legislation mandating personal data protection was passed by the Senate this morning.

Owen Darrell, the Senate Leader and Minister of Youth, Culture and Sports, explained that the Personal Information Protection Amendment Act 2023 aimed to harmonise the Personal Information Protection Act 2016, the Public Access to Information Act 2010 and the Pati Regulations 2014.

Mr Darrell said that as a result of the amendments, individuals would have more control over their information and how it is used and controlled.

He said: “Privacy legislation, also referred to as data protection or information privacy, provides for an important human right and a critical building block in the creation of a successful information society.”

Pipa places duties on the use of personal information on organisations, including public authorities.

While provisions in Pipa came into effect in 2016, the legislation will not come fully into force until January 1, 2025.

Douglas De Couto, an Opposition senator, said he supported the legislation but highlighted that it had been nine years since the Bill was passed. He said: “Let’s get this Bill in action, it is really important”.

He suggested that the Government and institutions working with the Government should be the first to be required to be in compliance with the Bill, given that people were forced to give sensitive data to them.

Dr De Couto said: “We spoke in the senate last year about ResQuest — we learnt that as of a year ago, almost 52,000 Bermuda residents’ vaccination data was stored by this private entity, 46,000 travellers had their sensitive Travel Authorisation form travel information stored with this entity and we learnt at the time that we didn’t really have a proper privacy policy.

“That is an example of an organisation with incredibly sensitive data that I believe this Act will force them to clean up how that information is handled.

“I also heard that the Government is taking that data and using it in correlation with other data the Government has. Under this act, Bermudians will be able to find out exactly how that data is being used.”

Dr De Couto expressed concern about the “prescribed maximum fee” being removed from the section about fees for services.

He used as an example a recent court case in which the Government fought to remove the Information Commissioner’s power to examine certain records held by public authorities.

“I think that things like prescribed maximum fee is important because it would align the Government to making sure it kept its fees down,” Dr De Couto said.

Leslie Robinson, PLP senator, said she was “in total support of this Bill”.

She acknowledged the time taken to implement the legislation but said there had been a great deal of consultation.

”It is a fundamental change as to how persons are going to collect and hold personal information. It provides for transparency and accountability of those persons,“ she said.

“It was important that the time was taken to get things right”

John Wight, independent senator, also voiced his support for the Bill.