Philippines: Adopted Amendments to Rules of Procedure of the National Privacy Commission

On 26 January 2024, the National Privacy Commission of the Philippines issued a Circular containing Amendments to the rules of procedure of the National Privacy Commission. Notably, the Amendments include changes to the Commission’s powers, including its conduct of sua sponte investigations where a data breach notification is not brought, and the conduct of various modes of compliance checks. The Amendments extend the list of definitions to include, among others, hearing officers, mediation officers, mediation support officers and parties in interest. The Amendments further introduce permissive joinder of parties, allowing parties affected by the same question of law or fact to join in one complaint. Further, the Amendments introduce the compulsory joinder of parties in case no final determination is possible without the parties. The Amendments also take technological development into account, allowing mediation proceeding to be conducted via videoconferencing technology. The Amendments enter into force 15 days after publication, on 10 February 2024.