The Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) should not ignore protecting their data as data protection is crucial for future growth. People understand the importance of their personal data and a growing number of people want to make sure the data given to an organization is protected and is not going to be sold, said panelists during a webinar on data privacy.
Specialists from the PwC Digital Trust team, along with the Ministry of Transport and Communication (MoTC) held a session about the importance of data privacy for SMEs and data privacy challenges SMEs face for the digital transformation and how to address these challenges.
Issa Habash, Partner, Qatar Other Assurance Services Leader, PwC said, “In Qatar data privacy will be helpful to the SMEs. As a community we are aware that Qatar implemented law number (13) of 2016, the Personal Data Privacy Protection Law (PDPPL) to protect the privacy of individuals personal data. With this law Qatar has become the first Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member state to issue a personal data protection law. Recently, Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC) issued a set of guidelines to support organizations in understanding their obligations under the PDPPL and to help achieve compliance with this law.
PwC has been serving our clients in the region as well as in Qatar to comply with data privacy protection law, he added.
Richard Chudzynski, Senior lawyer, PwC talked about what data privacy looks like in Middle East region. He said, data privacy law is about any personal data that is processed electronically or non-electronically.
It covers private and public organizations within Qatar. Personal data is everyday stuff we can imagine on name, address, IDs, CCTV footage, photos. It does not include corporate/business data but only personal data. It would depend on the organization; it is not prescriptive in the law. Also, there is sensitive personal data, which is related to race, religious beliefs, physical, mental health, children and family members data and criminal offences. And, this data could cause serious harm to the individual if leaked or misused.
Richard also explained about GDPR that is the European General Data Protection Regulation and the Qatar Data Protection Law and the key similarities and differences between both. He discussed about risks to SMEs. And pointed how MoTC is taking the protection of personal data very seriously, which is evident by the extended guidelines they have produced in English and Arabic.
Phil Mennie, Partner, Digital Trust and Data Privacy, PwC defined data privacy, explained its importance and challenges SMEs sector face and how to address those challenges. He said, laws and regulations are being introduced around the world which are making the topic of data privacy more important.
He shed light on some of the typical challenges for SMEs and highlighted that digital transformation is the topic everyone is talking about, using new technologies to drive efficiency or access new markets.
