In May 2022, the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) was launched between Australia, Brunei, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, the US and Vietnam. On account of its specified focus on labor standards and issues, IPEF is likely to have an ongoing impact on labor regulations and trends among partner countries, including Vietnam.
The National Privacy Commission issued Circular No. 2022-04 on 5 December 2022, which sets out the registration framework of Data Protection Officers and Data Processing Systems. Under the Circular, personal information controllers and personal information processors operating in the Philippines are required to register with the NPC as long as they meet any of the conditions for registration. The Circular took effect on 11 January 2023.
On 10 October 2022, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed into law Republic Act No. 11934, otherwise known as the “Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Registration Act”. The primary purpose of the Act is to mandate all public telecommunications entities to require the registration of SIM cards prior to their sale and activation, in an effort to promote accountability and provide law enforcement with an identification tool in resolving crimes .
On 15 November 2022, the Department of Energy issued Department Circular No. 2022-11-0034 to amend Section 19 of the Rules and Regulations Implementing Republic Act No. 9513, otherwise known as the Renewable Energy Act of 2008. The amendments remove Filipino ownership requirements previously imposed on the exploration, development and utilization of solar, wind, hydro and ocean or tidal energy resources, to allow full foreign ownership.
The guide provides the latest regulatory information on sandboxes, robo-advisers, online lenders, payment processors, marketplaces, exchanges and trading platforms, high-frequency and algorithmic trading, financial research platforms, insurtech, regtech, blockchain, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and open banking.
The guide provides key legal information on the regulatory environment for digital health, potential legal issues, and other hot topics at the intersection of healthcare, data and technology.
To learn more about the latest trends and developments in digital healthcare in the Philippines, access the Philippine chapter of Chambers and Partners Digital Healthcare Global Guide 2022, exclusively authored by Quisumbing Torres.
On 30 August 2022, the Indonesian House of Representatives agreed to pass a law ratifying the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the largest regional free trade agreement outside the World Trade Organization — involving 10 ASEAN countries and five non-ASEAN countries, i.e., China, New Zealand, Australia, Japan and South Korea. With the passing of this law, which still requires promulgation by the President, RCEP is set to come into force for Indonesia, possibly before the end of the year.
The Philippines logged one of the highest growth rates as an emerging data center market alongside Malaysia and Thailand, supporting the active digital profile of Filipinos.
Access Quisumbing Torres’ Developing and Operating Data Centers in the Philippines to learn more about the key legal issues for data center investors. The guide provides the relevant regulatory information including issues and considerations related to foreign investment controls, data (i.e., privacy, telecommunications laws, cybersecurity, data localization, antitrust),tax, M&A, financing, sustainability and real estate.
On 18 August 2022, a webinar entitled Managing Customs Disputes in the Philippines took place as part of the Asia Pacific IMT webinar series. The collection targets of both the Philippine Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs have increased to recover the lost government revenue caused by the pandemic. This has resulted in a rise in the imposition of penalties on importers for non-compliance. The webinar provides a brief discussion of the common issues raised during border disputes and post clearance audits, and the remedies available to the importers.
The National Privacy Commission issued Circular No. 2022-01 on 12 August 2022, entitled “Guidelines on Administrative Fines”. The Circular fixes the administrative fines to be imposed upon personal information controllers or personal information processors for infractions of the Data Privacy Act of 2012, its implementing rules and regulations, and the issuances of the NPC. The Circular takes effect on 27 August 2022 and will apply prospectively. Thus, complaints that have already been filed with the NPC prior to the effectivity date are not covered by the Circular.