The Personal Data Protection Commissioner (“PDP Commissioner”) recently issued the General Code of Practice of Personal Data Protection (“General COP”) on its official website, which appears to be effective from 15 December 2022.
 
Application of the General COP
 
The General COP applies to classes of data users who are currently not subject to any codes of practice registered by the PDP Commissioner, by virtue of Section 24 of the Personal Data Protection Act 2010 (“PDPA”).
 
To date, the PDP Commissioner has registered codes of practice for the following sectors:

The General COP applies to the classes of data users who do not fall within the sectors listed above. Some examples include organisations in the following sectors e.g., tourism and hospitalities, education, direct selling, professional services (legal, audit, accountancy, engineering, architecture), real estate.
 
Non-compliance of the General COP
 
The General COP is stated to have the force of law and non-compliance with the provisions therein is an offence under the PDPA, which may attract a fine of not exceeding MYR 100,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or both.
 
The General COP can be found here. A full write up on the salient points of the newly registered General COP will follow. 
 

Alert by Jillian Chia (Partner), Natalie Lim (Partner), Beatrice Yew (Associate) and Cheam Tat Sean (Associate) of the Personal Data Protection Practice of Skrine.