Personal data will be transferred across borders if fines are too light

On the morning of June 5, continuing the 46th session, the National Assembly Standing Committee gave opinions on receiving, explaining, and revising the draft Law on Personal Data Protection.

Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on National Defense, Security and Foreign Affairs Le Tan Toi presented the report. Photo: media.quochoi.vn

Reporting at the meeting, Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on National Defense, Security and Foreign Affairs Le Tan Toi said that the draft Law expected to be absorbed and revised has focused on strictly prohibiting common and high-risk behaviors such as processing personal data to oppose the State and obstructing personal data protection activities.

The draft strictly prohibits the use of personal data protection activities to violate the law; illegally collect, store, disclose, and transfer personal data; buy and sell personal data (except in cases where the law provides otherwise); appropriate, intentionally disclose, or lose personal data.

Regarding handling violations of the law on personal data protection, the draft law defines the handling principle as depending on the nature, level, and consequences, administrative sanctions or criminal prosecution will be imposed; if damage is caused, compensation must be paid.

Regarding administrative fines, due to the nature and serious consequences of violations of regulations on personal data protection, the Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on National Defense, Security and Foreign Affairs said that for violations of regulations on cross-border transfer of personal data, the maximum fine is 5% of the previous year's revenue; for other violations, the maximum fine is 3 billion VND. Based on the experience of the European Union and a number of countries, Mr. Le Tan Toi said that the draft regulation stipulates that for acts of buying and selling personal data, the fine can be up to 10 times the revenue obtained from the violation.

At the same time, the draft Law stipulates that the fine for individuals is half the fine for organizations; the Government is assigned to specify the fine level, fine framework and method of calculating illegal revenue.

Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Vu Hong Thanh speaks at the discussion. Photo: media.quochoi.vn

Discussing the above-mentioned penalty, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Law and Justice Nguyen Truong Giang expressed concern about the maximum penalty of up to 5% of the previous year's revenue. "According to the provisions of the Law on Handling Administrative Violations, the maximum fine in areas such as security and network information security is 100 million VND, science and technology management is 50 million VND, and electronic transactions is 40 million VND. Currently, the Government is also submitting to the National Assembly amendments and supplements to a number of articles of the Law on Handling Administrative Violations," said Mr. Nguyen Truong Giang.

However, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Vu Hong Thanh said that if the penalty level is used as a normal administrative penalty, it will be difficult to ensure deterrence. The Vice Chairman of the National Assembly analyzed that violations in the protection of personal data have a very negative impact on society and individuals with data.

Senior Lieutenant General Le Quoc Hung, Deputy Minister of Public Security, speaks at the meeting. Photo: media.quochoi.vn

Speaking to clarify this issue, Senior Lieutenant General Le Quoc Hung, Deputy Minister of Public Security, said that it is necessary to prescribe higher fines to ensure deterrence for large enterprises, especially multinational corporations or technology enterprises with revenues of thousands of billions of VND.

“If the fine is too light, large enterprises and cross-border enterprises will be willing to pay the fine, willing to violate the law to transfer personal data across borders, and reap huge profits,” said the Deputy Minister of Public Security.

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/du-lieu-ca-nhan-se-bi-chuyen-giao-xuyen-bien-gioi-neu-muc-phat-qua-nhe-704567.html