IBM has announced it has achieved certification under the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Cross-Border Privacy Rules (CBPR), the first company to do so, according to a press release. The CBPR system is designed to facilitate data flows between the U.S. and the other APEC member economies, through voluntary, enforceable codes of conduct. IBM Chief Privacy Officer Christina Peters, CIPP/US, said, “CBPR rules will become the foundation of a globally accepted system that enables data to be shared throughout different regions with strong and trustworthy privacy protections.” Hogan Lovell’s Partner Christopher Wolf told The Daily Dashboard, “APEC CBPRs, containing enforceable commitments for the protection of personal data, are a lot like BCRs (binding corporate rules) that the EU recognizes as sufficient for cross-border transfers. Their adoption and effectiveness suggests that the EU should move its focus from the adequacy of the U.S. legal framework to whether personal data is being adequately protected through mechanisms like the CBPRs.”
