Canada: Published Global Cross-Border Privacy Rules (CBPR) Framework 2023 and Terms of Reference for admission of interested jurisdictions

On 13 April 2023, the Global Cross-Border Privacy Rules (GCBPR) Forum announced it was welcoming participation by interested jurisdictions with the release of the Global CBPR Framework 2023 and the Forum's Terms of Reference for admission of interested jurisdictions. The CBPR Forum was created by the governments of Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Philippines, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, and the United States on 21 April 2022. The GCBPR aims to be a hub for global cooperation regarding digital trade, secure data flows, and privacy, with the goal of evaluating differing domestic approaches and building interoperable international standards for data transfers. The GCBPR is an expansion of the Cross-Border Privacy Rules System of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), which enables voluntary data protection certification for companies to transfer data between participating countries. In relation to the Terms of Reference for admission of interested jurisdictions, the document sets out the criteria for membership and the criteria for associate status and regulates the submission and review of applications.