At the conclusion of the 19th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders’ Meeting, a Leaders’ Declaration was issued that covered a number of topics of interest to companies. The Leaders’ Declaration covered issues such as “Strengthening Regional Economic Integration and Expanding Trade”, “Promoting Green Growth”, and “Regulatory Convergence and Cooperation”.
Recognizing the key role information and privacy plan in economic integration, the APEC leaders endorsed implementing the APEC Cross Border Privacy Rules System, in order to increase information flows, enhance privacy, and promote interoperability across regional privacy regimes. The Rules System has was previously proposed and more information about it can be found in the link. The Leaders’ Declaration is important because it indicates where APEC is heading from a regulatory perspective, but also demonstrates that the APEC leaders understand that promoting the free flow of information is a critical economic issue that can be served while simultaneously improving consumer privacy.
Following on the heels of this announcement, the FTC also issued its own release regarding this issue, recognizing the importance of this step by APEC and laying out the process for the program.