Congress Considers Right to Repair Bill for Vehicle Owners
Last week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted to send the Right to Equitable and Professional Auto Industry Repair (REPAIR) Act to the full U.S. House of Representatives for consideration. This legislation, if enacted, would give car owners access to their vehicle-generated data and repair data and tools from vehicle manufacturers. It would also grant owners certain rights over the use of that data, including the right to delete it, and would prevent recipients of vehicle-generated data from selling, transferring, or licensing that data absent certain exceptions. As indicated by its name, the REPAIR Act is reflective of the so-called “right to repair” movement to allow consumers and independent repair shops access to the same data for repair and maintenance that manufacturers make available to themselves or franchised dealers. It also has important implications for data privacy in modern vehicles, which generate increasingly large volumes of information.
Pharma Companies in Beijing Free Trade Zone to Benefit from Relaxed Data Transfer Rules
On August 30, 2024, the Beijing Municipal Cyberspace Administration, Beijing Municipal Commerce Bureau and Beijing Municipal Government Services and Data Administration Bureau jointly released the “Administrative Measures for the Data Exit Negative List of the China (Beijing) Pilot Free Trade Zone (Trial)” (Administrative Measures) and the “Data Exit Administration List (Negative List) of the China (Beijing) Pilot Free Trade Zone (2024 Edition)” (Negative List) to facilitate the export of important industry data and personal information out of the country by companies operating in the Beijing free trade zone (FTZ). (more…)

Agreement Reached on the EU’s Data Act
On 27 November 2023, the Council adopted the final text of the Data Act which facilitates (and in certain cases, mandates) the access to (personal and non-personal) data. The Data Act was originally proposed by the European Commission in 2022. Alongside the EU Data Governance Act (which came into force in June 2022) the Data Act forms part of the EU’s Data Strategy which aims to “make the EU a leader in a data-driven society”. (more…)

UK Information Commissioner’s Office Publishes Toolkit for Data Sharing with Law Enforcement
The Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) has introduced a toolkit on data sharing with law enforcement (“Toolkit”) which supplements the ICO’s existing guidance on sharing personal data with law enforcement authorities. The Toolkit is intended to function as a tool for smaller organisations to make an informed decision about whether to share personal data with law enforcement. Larger organisations with expertise in data protection are encouraged to refer to the ICO’s data sharing code of practice but in any event, the Toolkit is intended to help provide clarity for all organisations in making decisions relating to this type of sharing.

