[Today], Thursday, 28 January the Cayman Islands joins the rest of the world in marking International Data Protection Day.

Cayman’s Data Protection Law (DPL), which came into effect on 30 September 2019, contains important rights for individuals, including the right to be informed about how personal data is being used. Individuals also have the right to request corrections to inaccurate personal data, to object to direct marketing and to request access to their personal data.

The DPL also sets rules for the use of personal data by public and private sector organizations based on eight core principles. Those include fairness, adequacy, retention and security of personal data processing, among other requirements.

The Office of the Ombudsman is tasked with oversight and enforcement of the DPL. Individuals have the right to complain to the Ombudsman if they believe their data is not being processed legally or fairly.

“With the Data Protection Law just more than a year old, we are seeing high levels of interest from businesses and organizations in the new legislation.” said Sandy Hermiston, Cayman Islands Ombudsman. “Raising awareness of data protection issues, as well as investigating complaints and data breaches, have become one of the busiest areas for our office over the past year, particularly with the onset of Covid-19 as more daily business moves online.”

The DPL requires personal data breaches to be reported to the Ombudsman and the affected data subjects. The most common data breach notifications involve instances where emails containing personal data have been inadvertently sent to unintended recipients. Individuals who have concerns about how their data is being used by organizations can make a complaint to the Ombudsman for investigation under the DPL.

Please visit the Ombudsman website for more information including FAQs, guidance and other resources to help you understand your data protection rights and obligations: www.ombudsman.ky/data-protection or send your questions to: [email protected]