Guide to PIPA: Regulatory activity & honours exemption

Summary

This is PrivCom's plain-English guidance on Section 24 of Bermuda's Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA), which sets out a limited exemption from most of PIPA's data protection rules where applying them would likely prejudice certain public-interest regulatory functions, and separately for the conferring of honours by the Crown or Premier.

• Regulatory activity exemption: Parts 2 and 3 of PIPA (other than the minimum requirements) do not apply to use of personal information needed to discharge a relevant function, to the extent applying those Parts would likely prejudice the proper discharge of that function.
• Covered functions: Includes protecting the public from financial loss due to dishonesty, malpractice, unfitness or incompetence in banking, insurance, investment, trust or other financial services, or in management/ownership of an organisation; protecting against loss from conduct of bankrupts; policing conduct or competence of authorised professionals; protecting charities from misconduct, mismanagement or loss/misapplication of property; and securing health, safety and welfare of individuals at work or protecting the public from work-related health and safety risks.
• What counts as a relevant function: Any function conferred by or under a statutory provision, any function of the Crown, a Minister or a government department, or any other function that is public in nature and exercised in the public interest.
• Honours exemption: Parts 2 and 3 of PIPA (other than the minimum requirements) also do not apply to use of personal information required for the Crown or Premier to confer an honour or dignity.

The exemption is narrow: it only removes the specified Parts to the extent needed to avoid prejudicing the listed functions, and the minimum requirements under PIPA continue to apply regardless.

Applies to

organisations discharging regulatory functions (e.g. financial services, professional conduct, charity oversight regulators), government departments and Crown/Ministerial bodies, employers or bodies responsible for workplace health and safety, bodies involved in conferring honours or dignities on behalf of the Crown or Premier