Global News: CBPR Forum

Date written: August 15, 2022

On April 21, 2022, Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Philippines, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, and the United States of America issued a Global Cross-Border Privacy Rules Declaration announcing the establishment of the Global Cross-Border Privacy Rules Forum (“Global CBPR Forum”).

In the Statement on establishment of Global CBPR Forum, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce, Gina M. Raimondo said, "The establishment of the Global CBPR Forum reflects the beginning of a new era of multilateral cooperation in promoting trusted global data flows that are critically important to our modern economy. The Global CBPR Forum intends to establish the Global Cross Border Privacy Rules (CBPR) and Privacy Recognition for Processors (PRP) Systems, first-of-their-kind data privacy certifications that help companies demonstrate compliance with internationally recognized data privacy standards.”

The Global CBPR Forum builds upon the existing APEC frameworks, and is intended to increase the adoption of the framework globally. It recognizes that interoperability may occur where countries have shared privacy values even though there are distinct nuances in their privacy regulations.   The current system sets a baseline of data protection for all countries to sign up to and allows national regulators like the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to levy fines for wrongdoing. Accountability Agents, or third-party private or public auditors, check whether companies are complying with the voluntary set of international privacy standards.

The Global CBPR Forum will be independently administered and separate from the APEC Systems. The founding members of the Global CBPR Forum will consult with Accountability Agents and certified companies in the APEC Systems to formally transition operations from APEC to the Global CBPR Forum and will provide at least 30 days’ notice to Accountability Agents. All approved Accountability Agents and certified companies will automatically be recognized in the new Global CBPR Forum based on the same terms that they are recognized within the APEC CBPR and PRP Systems.