Abstract

Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is a grouping of 21 member economies in the Asia Pacific Region which between them account for more than 40% of world population and 50% of world GDP (including Russia, China and the United States). It was established in 1989 to facilitate economic growth, cooperation, trade and investment in the region. The APEC Privacy Framework was adopted by Ministerial Declaration in October 2004, after a two year development by a Privacy Subgroup of the APEC Electronic Commerce Steering Group, with the Implementation section added a year later. The Subgroup has continued to meet regularly to progress implementation of the Framework. The current emphasis is on a number of linked Pathfinder projects, in one of more of which 14 of the 21 APEC member economies are currently participating. This paper considers the APEC Privacy Framework; its strengths and weaknesses; and its interrelationship with other international privacy instruments.