Bahrain British Business Forum’s (BBBF) special interest group (SIG) for legal professionals has recently hosted a panel discussion focusing on the new personal data protection law which will be implemented within the Kingdom of Bahrain on 1st August 2019.
Led by Nicholas Williams, the head of BBBF’s legal SIG and Partner at Newton Legal Group, the discussions delved into the impending introduction of the new personal data protection law which is a result of an increased global awareness towards data protection. Several other countries have adopted similar laws, such as the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by the European Union.
The specialist panel was comprised of leading legal practitioners including Nadia AlJaber (Associate, Newton Legal Group), Ahmed AlFardan (Associate, Newton Legal Group) and Basma Naseeb (Legal Specialist, Bahrain Economic Development Board).
The discussion shed light on how the new law will give individuals and entities in Bahrain rights in relation to how their personal data can be collected, processed and stored.
Consequently, businesses need to understand whether the law applies to them and how they can attain consent from data owners. The new law will act as the regulatory law for data protection, and imposes several obligations on data processing.
