Page 104 - SAMENA Trends - July-August 2023

REGULATORY & POLICY UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

EC Targets Tougher GDPR Enforcement

The European Commission (EC) outlined companies. Reuters reported the EC’s move promote a consensus among authorities.
new rules to help domestic regulators came in response to criticism about fines Companies under investigation will have
ensure stronger enforcement of General being too low and investigations taking too the right to be heard at key stages of the
Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), long to deter the likes of Google, Amazon investigation process, as will complainants.
following reported criticism of the handling and Meta Platforms from breaching “The harmonization of these procedural
of privacy breaches by technology GDPR laws. To address the situation, the aspects will support the timely completion
EC published new guidelines it stated of investigations” and, in turn “delivery of
will streamline cooperation between a swift remedies for individuals,” the EC
Data Protection Authorities (DPA) when stated. Despite the changes, the EC was
enforcing GDPR across borders, while keen to point out GDPR is working, citing
harmonizing the process in numerous 711 final decisions made with “fines of
areas. The changes will require the lead hundreds of millions of euros” imposed
DPA to send a summary of key issues to in some cases. Meta Platforms was
its peers to allow for feedback at an early recently hit with a €1.2 billion fine over data
stage in any investigation, contribute to protection breaches, reportedly the bloc’s
reducing last-minute disagreements and highest such penalty to-date.

India Targets 6G Lead with New Alliance

India’s Department of Telecommunications collaboration and knowledge exchange”. late to the 5G party, with operators in the
(DoT) launched a 6G alliance designed India’s push follows the creation of country launching services in October 2022.
to drive the country’s next-generation initiatives including the Next G Alliance in However, Minister for Communications,
ambitions, a project which will include the US, the EU 6G alliance and state-backed Railways, Electronics and IT Ashwini
involvement from the private sector, initiatives in China, as governments and Vaishnaw pointed to a series of reforms
academics, research institutions and corporations target a lead on developing over the last nine years, which he claims
standards organizations. The DoT stated a technology heavily touted to launch in left India well placed to take a key role in
the Bharat 6G Alliance (B6GA) will involve 2030. Notably, India was comparatively the development of 6G.
75 companies and is backed by two
government grants to create technology
testbeds, as part of the state’s vision
boost the country’s telecoms sector.
B6GA will primarily work to understand the
business and societal needs of 6G beyond
technology requirements, promote open
R&D initiatives and accelerate standards-
related patent creation. It is also pledged
to bring together start-ups, corporations
and the manufacturing sector “to drive
the design, development and deployment
of 6G” in India. The DoT wants B6GA
to “forge coalitions and synergies with
other 6G alliances, fostering international

Colombia Updates MNP Regulations

Colombia’s Communications Regulatory rejection and strengthens the mechanisms three days down to one. That rule took ef-
Commission (Comision de Regulacion de that are in place to reduce identity theft fect on 1 July 2020. As of 31 March 2023,
Comunicaciones, CRC) has updated its mo- fraud. Previously, in 2020 the watchdog a total of 43.2 million mobile numbers had
bile number portability (MNP) regulations introduced Resolution CRC 5929 of 2020, been ported in Colombia.
with Resolution CRC 7151 of 2023. The cutting the timeframe in which domestic
new resolution amends the grounds for cellcos must process MNP requests from
104 JULY-AUGUST 2023