What is the Data Privacy Act (DPA)?

The Philippines Data Privacy Act of 2012 (Republic Act No. 10173), commonly referred to as the DPA, is the country’s primary data protection law. Enacted in August 2012, the Act was designed to safeguard the fundamental right to privacy of every Filipino while ensuring the free flow of information to drive innovation and growth in the digital economy.

The DPA applies to all individuals and organizations that process personal data – whether in the Philippines or abroad – if the data involves Philippine citizens or residents. This includes industries such as financial services, healthcare, telecommunications, retail, government agencies, and global businesses offering services to the Philippine market.

The law created the National Privacy Commission (NPC), an independent regulatory body responsible for enforcing the DPA, issuing compliance guidelines, conducting investigations, and imposing penalties for violations.

The DPA is closely aligned with global frameworks such as the EU’s GDPR, Canada’s PIPEDA, and Singapore’s PDPA, making it part of the international wave of modern privacy regulations. Since its passage, the NPC has issued implementing rules and various advisory opinions to clarify compliance obligations, and it regularly updates its enforcement guidelines.

What is South Korea PIPA?

The Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) is South Korea’s principal data protection law, originally enacted in 2011 and significantly amended in recent years to strengthen data-subject rights and supervisory powers. PIPA governs the collection, use, disclosure, storage, and transfer of “personal information” by both public and private entities and reaches a broad set of organizations — including banks and financial services, healthcare, telecoms, e-commerce, marketing and advertising firms, technology platforms, and any foreign company that processes the personal data of people in Korea. The law is enforced by the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) and is supported by an Enforcement Decree and agency guidelines that together define operational obligations. The most important recent development was a major overhaul that produced amendments and a revised Enforcement Decree that came into force in 2023 (with subsequent implementing guidance updates by the PIPC into 2024). 

What are the requirements for PIPA?

Below are the core legal requirements and practical steps organizations must take to comply:

Core legal obligations:

• Lawful collection and purpose limitation: collect only what is necessary and only for declared purposes; disclosure/secondary use requires additional legal basis or consent. 
• Consent & transparency: obtain clear consent where required and provide accessible privacy notices describing purposes, categories of data, recipients (including cross-border recipients) and retention policies. 
• Data subject rights: enable access, correction, deletion (to the extent permitted), and other rights under the statute. 
• Security & breach reporting: implement reasonable technical and organizational safeguards and notify the PIPC/KISA and affected individuals without undue delay (practice and guidance expect notification within 72 hours in many cases). 
• Appointment/roles: designate responsible privacy personnel (many organizations must appoint a privacy officer/DPO or equivalent and document accountability). 
• Cross-border transfers & domestic representative: disclose and obtain requisite consents for overseas processing; for certain foreign controllers, PIPA requires appointment of a domestic representative and the amended Enforcement Decree expanded and clarified that obligation (thresholds now consider total sales revenue). 

Actionable compliance steps:

• Map personal data flows (where data is collected, stored, transferred — including third parties and cloud providers).
• Classify data (identify “sensitive” categories such as health, biometric, criminal or ideological data that attract heightened scrutiny). 
• Publish/update privacy notices to meet PIPC guidelines (including disclosure of overseas processing or vendors). 
• Implement technical & organizational safeguards (access controls, encryption, logging, vendor security reviews).
• Run DPIAs / PIAs for high-risk projects (new services, large-scale profiling, sensitive data uses).
• Establish breach response & notification procedures and test them (playbooks, notification templates, evidence retention). 
• If applicable, appoint a domestic representative and a DPO/privacy officer, and ensure contractual terms with processors meet PIPA standards. 

PIPA compliance is commonly paired with ISO/IEC 27001 for information security, privacy impact assessments (PIAs/DPIAs) aligned to ISO standards, and contractual vendor management frameworks. Following GDPR-style practices (consent management, data minimization, records of processing) will materially help with PIPA alignment. The Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) is the regulator — it issues guidance, evaluations of privacy policies, enforcement actions and fines. 

Why should you be PIPA compliant?

Benefits & business value

• Regulatory safety: reduces the risk of PIPC investigations, corrective orders and monetary penalties. 
• Customer trust & market access: Korean customers and business partners expect strong privacy controls; compliance supports sales, contracts, and reputation in a data-sensitive market. 
• Operational resilience: disciplined data governance reduces breach risk, enables faster incident response and lowers remediation costs.
• Global alignment advantage: aligning with PIPA helps multi-jurisdictional compliance (PIPA shares concepts with GDPR, making cross-border programs more efficient). 

Risks & consequences of non-compliance

• Enforcement & fines: PIPC fines, corrective orders, and in some cases criminal penalties or imprisonment can apply for serious violations such as unlawful transfer or failure to follow corrective orders. Publicized enforcement is used to set compliance expectations. 
• Reputational damage & business loss: data incidents or DPA enforcement erode customer trust and can disrupt contracts (especially with financial and healthcare partners).
• Operational and contractual limitations: inability to provide services or to transfer data overseas until adequate safeguards are in place; potential loss of clients who require robust privacy controls.

How to achieve compliance (with Centraleyes)

Achieving compliance with South Korea’s PIPA can be complex, given its detailed requirements around consent, data subject rights, security safeguards, and reporting obligations. Centraleyes simplifies this process through its advanced Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) platform. With Centraleyes, organizations can instantly align PIPA requirements with other frameworks such as GDPR, ISO, or NIST, reducing duplication of effort and saving valuable time. The platform also includes an integrated risk management module and risk register, helping organizations identify, assess, and mitigate data privacy risks in line with PIPA obligations. Automated workflows, centralized documentation, and real-time tracking make it easier to demonstrate accountability and readiness for audits. With Centraleyes, organizations can move toward PIPA compliance faster, more efficiently, and with greater confidence.

The post South Korea Personal Information Privacy Act appeared first on Centraleyes.

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from Centraleyes authored by Rebecca Kappel. Read the original post at: https://www.centraleyes.com/south-korea-personal-information-privacy-act/