Represented by the Director of the Legal Office, Njunjulo António, APD participated in the 4th Meeting of the Committee on Digital Trade of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), held in hybrid format from 9 to 12 October 2023 in Kigali, Rwanda.
APD's contributions, as Angola's personal data protection authority, focused on the access and flow of personal information in digital commerce on the continent, more precisely, on the need for the African digital commerce project to incorporate rules for the use of personal data in practice of trade in goods and services.
The legal framework under discussion consists of rules for cross-border data transfer, cybersecurity, unsolicited commercial electronic communications, safeguarding privacy and the rights of data subjects.
The meeting of the Digital Market Committee, a component of the African Single Market, an African Union initiative for the economic integration of the continent, recommended that it is necessary to "address the issues of privacy and security in the transfer of data across borders” and also highlighted, “the need to find a balance between the facilitation of digital trade in the region and the protection and security of data”, as well as “the protection of the rights of data subjects to be referred to the plenary of Senior Trade Officials”, who are responsible for assessing and submit the final document to the African Union Council of Ministers, before its approval by the heads of member states.