What is the PDPA?
The PDPA establishes a national framework to protect the personal data of individuals while enabling organizations to use data for legitimate business purposes. It defines key obligations such as consent, purpose limitation, accuracy, protection, and breach notification, ensuring responsible data handling throughout the data lifecycle.
The law is overseen by the Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC), which enforces compliance and issues advisory guidelines.
Why the PDPA matters
The PDPA is essential in ensuring individuals’ privacy rights are protected in a digital economy. Without the PDPA, organizations would lack clear responsibilities for safeguarding personal data, increasing the risk of misuse, breaches, and loss of public trust.
The law also helps organizations demonstrate strong data governance, maintain consumer confidence, and meet expectations for transparency and accountability in data processing activities.
How the PDPA is implemented in practice
Organizations subject to the PDPA typically implement measures such as:
- Appointing a Data Protection Officer (DPO) to oversee compliance
- Obtaining valid consent for data collection, use, and disclosure
- Obtaining valid consent for data collection, use, and disclosure, or relying on applicable exceptions such as the legitimate interests and business improvement exceptions introduced under the 2020 PDPA amendments
- Notifying individuals of data purposes
- Maintaining accurate and up-to-date personal data
- Implementing reasonable security safeguards to protect data
- Retaining personal data only for as long as necessary
- Managing cross-border transfers with appropriate safeguards
- Reporting notifiable data breaches to the PDPC and affected individuals
- Publishing data protection policies to promote transparency
Related laws & standards
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
- Thailand's Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA)
- Indonesia's Personal Data Protection Law (PDPA)
- The Philippines' Data Privacy Act (DPA)
- Malaysia's Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA)
- ISO/IEC 27001 (Information Security Management)
- OECD Privacy Principles
How OneTrust helps with PDPA compliance
OneTrust supports PDPA compliance by enabling organizations to centralize data protection workflows, maintain audit-ready evidence, automate consent and notice management, and monitor risks associated with personal data processing. This helps organizations maintain transparency, accountability, and compliance with PDPA obligations.
FAQs about the PDPA
