Practitioner Certificate In Personal Data Protection: Everything You Need To Know

The PDPA requires all organisations in Singapore to appoint at least one individual as the Data Protection Officer (DPO) to manage data protection responsibilities and establish compliance with the PDPA. It is totally in the organisation’s discretion whether the DPO work is a dedicated task or added to an existing responsibility in the company. The designated DPO may also delegate specific duties to other officers in the organisation.

Outsourcing of DPO Function

The PDPC understands that some organisations may have manpower or resource constraints. In addition, we at Privacy Ninja recognise that hiring a full-time DPO may not be practical. Under the PDPA, the DPO-As-A-Service is an alternative for organisations to outsource their data protection functions. Let Privacy Ninja take on your organisation’s DPO operational obligations while you focus on what you do best, to grow the business. Chat with us today.

A DPO plays a crucial role in any organisation and this goes beyond getting the practitioner certificate in personal data protection. His responsibilities include, but not limited to the following:

1. Establishing compliance with PDPA when forming and carrying out policies and provisions for managing personal data;
2. Cultivating a data protection culture among the personnel and conveying personal data protection guidelines to stakeholders;
3. Handling personal data protection-related enquiries and complaints;
4. Notifying management to any risks that might come up pertaining to personal data; and
5. working with the PDPC on data protection issues, if necessary.

Also Read: What Does A Data Protection Officer Do? 5 Main Things

Practitioner Certificate in Personal Data Protection – why DPOs must take this

The responsibilities of a DPO are crucial in the setting and achieving of full PDPA compliance in organisations. Hence, it only makes sense that businesses must push to enhance the capabilities of their DPOs. In response to this, the PDPC has developed a two-day preparatory course (some institutes are offering the same for three days) to equip data protection officers with practical data governance and data protection know-how and skills, and learn how to utilise risk-based tools to carry out a robust data protection infrastructure for their organisation.

Equipping your DPO with the proper skills is a great move, but your organisation can do better in terms of cultivating a culture of full PDPA compliance. Privacy Ninja offers a SkillsFuture Credit-eligible course on PDPA Obligations for Organisational Compliance. This course gives your personnel valuable insights and understanding of the 9 core PDPA obligations and more. Check out how you can value-add to your organisation today.

The “Practitioner Certificate in Personal Data Protection” is an intermediate course that complements the PDPA introductory course. This is under the SkillsFuture Singapore’s (SSG) Business Management Workforce Skills Qualifications (BM WSQ) framework.

Upon completion of the course, a computer-based examination can be taken by participants to receive the Practitioner Certificate in Personal Data Protection (Singapore), which is co-issued by the PDPC and the International Association for Privacy Professionals (IAPP).

Also Read: How To Comply With PDPA: A Checklist For Businesses

Practitioner Certificate in Personal Data Protection – overview

Various endorsed institutes may have different ways of laying out the lessons within the course, but the end goal is the same. That is, to let the course takers acquire practical data governance and data protection knowledge and skills, and learn to utilise risk-based tools to carry out a robust data protection infrastructure for your organisation.

The course covers the following topics:

• Recap of the PDPA
• Introduction to the Data Protection Management Programme (DPMP)
• Preparation and Risk Assessment for the DPMP, including Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA)
• Developing the DPMP – People, Policies, and Processes

Though as mentioned, the different learning institutes may lay out the topics different. It should also be noted that because of the amendments in the PDPA, some institutions are extending the course to three days instead of the usual two days.

You do not want to wait until your organisation suffers from a breach because your appointed DPO or your staff do not have the proper training on full PDPA compliance. Acquiring the Practitioner Certificate in Personal Data Protection is one of the steps to get there.