Mer­i­tas’ M+A & Pri­vate Equi­ty Group host­ed an online Data Pri­va­cy Update on 25 Octo­ber. Swaab’s Anna Sharpe with Yao Rao from the Shang­hai firm HHP Attor­neys and Jef­frey Lim from Joyce A Tan & Part­ners, Sin­ga­pore were co-presenters.

Yao Rao gave an update on recent changes to data and pri­va­cy laws in Chi­na and not­ed that pro­hi­bi­tions on some data flows to coun­tries out­side Chi­na have recent­ly been eased. Jef­frey Lim made some inter­est­ing obser­va­tions about the bal­ance Singapore’s pri­va­cy laws achieves between indi­vid­u­als’ pri­va­cy rights on the one hand, and posi­tion­ing Sin­ga­pore as an attrac­tive hub for region­al invest­ment in the Asia-Pacif­ic on the other.

Anna cov­ered the con­tentious top­ic of when the Aus­tralian Pri­va­cy Act impos­es oblig­a­tions on com­pa­nies who have lim­it­ed cor­po­rate or IT pres­ence in Aus­tralia. She also spoke about when Aus­tralian com­pa­nies may be liable for the pri­va­cy breach­es of ex-Aus­tralian data recip­i­ents (for exam­ple off­shore cloud ser­vice providers). The issue of what is need­ed for there to be a valid opt-in (con­sent) was out­lined and also gen­er­al­ly what Pri­va­cy Act com­pli­ance involves

If you would like to repub­lish this arti­cle, it is gen­er­al­ly approved, but pri­or to doing so please con­tact the Mar­ket­ing team at marketing@​swaab.​com.​au. This arti­cle is not legal advice and the views and com­ments are of a gen­er­al nature only. This arti­cle is not to be relied upon in sub­sti­tu­tion for detailed legal advice.

Publications

AI Slop v Fair Work Com­mis­sion: The Scourge Continues

For all the talk of how extra­or­di­nary and trans­for­ma­tive arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence (AI) can sup­pos­ed­ly be, it con­tin­ues to be a scourge…

Nichol­son v Stra­ta Plan No 104042 –The Valid­i­ty of Debt Recov­ery Claus­es in By-laws

The recent NSW Civ­il and Admin­is­tra­tive Tri­bunal deci­sion in Nichol­son v The Own­ers – Stra­ta Plan No 104042 [2025] NSW­CATCD 20…

Prop­er­ty and Stock Agents Amend­ment (Under­quot­ing and Oth­er Agent Con­duct) Act 2026

The Prop­er­ty and Stock Agents Amend­ment (Under­quot­ing and Oth­er Agent Con­duct) Act 2026 (NSW) (the Amend­ment Act) was assent­ed on 2…

In the News

Michael Byrnes is quot­ed in the arti­cle, Is the News Bar­gain­ing Incen­tive and Office of AI the media’s last hope?”, pub­lished in HR Leader on 31 July 2026

Michael Byrnes is quot­ed in the arti­cle, ​“Is the News Bar­gain­ing Incen­tive and Office of AI the media’s last hope?”…

Michael Byrnes appeared on Mon­ey News with James Willis on 2GB, 3AW, 4BC and 6PR on 30 July 2026 to dis­cuss a recent Fair Work Com­mis­sion case deal­ing with an appli­ca­tion for a flex­i­ble work­ing arrange­ment to work from home (from 23:30 to 32:20)

Michael Byrnes appeared on Mon­ey News with James Willis on 2GB, 3AW, 4BC and 6PR on 30 July 2026 to…

Michael Byrnes appeared on McK­night Tonight with Robert McK­night on 28 July 2026 to dis­cuss the lat­est devel­op­ments in the pro­ceed­ings brought by Jack­ie O’ Hen­der­son against ARN (from 9:30 to 30:25)

Michael Byrnes appeared on McK­night Tonight with Robert McK­night on 28 July 2026 to dis­cuss the lat­est devel­op­ments in the…

Sign up for our Newsletter

*Mandatory information