Federal body to regulate credit business and data privacy

Dubai: The UAE is in the process of creating Federal Data Privacy Commission that will regulate the credit rating business and all aspects relating to data privacy, said Bashar Sale Qallab, CEO of Emcredit yesterday.

"A new federal law on data protection is in the making. The draft law is ready and it will be presented before the Federal Cabinet within a few days," said Qallab.

Emcredit, the UAE's first independent credit bureau, is playing an integral role in providing the industry know-how to a technical advisory committee tasked with creating a federal regulatory framework for credit information sharing, he added.

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The new regulatory body will govern and regulate all matters relating to credit data transfer by all onshore companies while emcredit will be under the ambit of both on shore regulations as well as the Dubai International Financial Centre's regulations.

The new law will be based on the international best practices. The proposed Data Privacy Commission will implement the Information Law. an independent supervisory authority that regulates the usage and sharing of personal information. "Although the proposed Commission will regulate the credit information in the short-term, it would also govern more types of personal information in the future," Qallab said.