It has been three years since the implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act 10173, or the Data Privacy Act of 2012, were promulgated by the National Privacy Commission. Full compliance remains a goal to be accomplished by many organizations in the country.
One of the key players in the implementation of the law is the data protection officer (DPO), also called the compliance officer or data privacy officer, of organizations that control and process personal information. The appointment of a DPO by personal information controllers and personal information processors is a legal requirement. The DPO has the overwhelming task of ensuring compliance, mainly by: making sure data privacy policies and processes are in place; monitoring and assessing their efficiency and effectiveness; and, proposing necessary changes to improve implementation, among others.
This is why the UP Open University is set to offer a program that will train and certify DPOs. Currently being finalized, the 32-hour course will be conducted over a period of four days, with the participants taking a certification exam at the end. The program will begin with a diagnostic exam to assess the extent of the participants’ knowledge on data privacy, followed by two modules on general privacy concepts and the fundamentals of the Data Privacy Act of 2012. The next group of modules will be on the rights and obligations of data subjects and the offices that will process and control these subjects’ personal information; and, on the enforcement of the law, including penalties for violations. Establishing a privacy management program and managing data breach incidents are the next set of modules to be discussed. In the latter, participants will be given different data breach scenarios to handle. The last two modules will be on information security for government, which DPOs from private organizations may opt out of, and on information security management system.
The UPOU DPO certification course is part of its 2019 initiatives launched during its 24th anniversary celebration on March 1 in its headquarters in Los Baños, Laguna.
Visit the UPOU website for updates and inquiries on this program. Links to the official social media accounts of UPOU are in the homepage.
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