ISLAMABAD, Nov 13: The government on Saturday unveiled the draft policy on "Foreign Data Security and Protection Act 2004" to provide protection to the foreign data in Pakistan.
"With increasing competition in the global Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) marketplace, lack of legal cover for the protection of data within the country is an impediment to growth in this sector," Information Technology Minister Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari said while presiding over a meeting at his office here.
Once comments from the industry and other relevant quarters were received, appropriate adjustments would be made in the bill after which it would be sent to the cabinet and subsequently to the National Assembly for debate and legislation, he said.
The law after finalization will provide teeth to the commitment to make Pakistan a secure location to carry out data processing activities," Leghari explained.
The medical and legal transcription industry was asking for a long time about such law to infuse confidence among foreign businesses, looking to outsource their data processing and similar activities from their own countries to low cost destinations around the world.
Without such law, unscrupulous or disgruntled employees within companies, which perform such services, could violate data privacy guidelines given to them by their customers, he said.
The law, for the time being, only covers the narrow requirements of processing of foreign data and is not intended to address overall concerns of privacy and access to personal data, Leghari explained.
Dr Amir Matin, the managing-director of Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB), said a comprehensive comparison with similar laws from around the world had been carried out before finalizing the law and the government was comfortable with the way the draft law had been worded.
The law specifically makes it an offence for anybody, acting for his own or anybody else's benefit, to process personal data in violation of any of the provisions of the law or contract with the foreign company. The punishment could entail imprisonment or fine or both.
Dr Amir Matin said reaction from the local BPO industry had been very positive, as this had been a long-standing demand of the stakeholders involved in this sector.
The BPO industry is growing rapidly in Pakistan, with exports up by 45 per cent in fiscal year 2003-4. It is estimated that about 2,000-3,000 individuals are employed in this industry, with growth being fuelled by the intense pressure to reduce costs within companies located in the West.
