Federal Act · Situational

§ File · Legislation Pillar 03 · Education

Personal Data Protection Act 2010

PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION ACT 2010

AKTA PERLINDUNGAN DATA PERIBADI 2010

Act 709 · consolidated to 1 Jul 2023 · 100 pp

Socio-economic rightsArtistic freedom

This copy of the Act is 3 years old. Any amendment made since 1 July 2023 is not in this text. Check the AGC record for later amendments.

Why it matters

What this does to artists

Applies to anyone processing personal data commercially: a mailing list, a ticketing database, a gallery's collector records, an archive of interviews, a documentary's release forms. The 2024 amendments added mandatory breach notification and a data protection officer requirement, both in force in 2025.

Watch this

Breach notification and the DPO obligation are new and are being enforced. Most arts organisations have neither.

Start here

What to read first

Section numbers read out of the AGC text itself

s.6General Principle

s.7Notice and Choice Principle

s.8Disclosure Principle

s.9Security Principle

s.10Retention Principle

s.11Data Integrity Principle

s.12Access Principle

s.29Non-compliance with code of practice

s.31Compliance with data access request

s.30Right of access to personal data

In practice

Where this one bites

Scenario

Post a set, reel or performance video

Uploading is reproduction and communication to the public, and then four separate speech regimes sit on top of…

Scenario

Shoot and screen a film or documentary

Approval is the gate, a FINAS licence is the price of admission, and possession alone is an offence.…

Scenario

Exhibit and sell your work

Selling the object is not selling the copyright, and the commission clause decides who owned it in the first p…

Scenario

Sell merch, prints or downloads online

The moment you take money online you are a seller, and there is a disclosure rule almost no artist store compl…

Scenario

Take a brand deal as a creator

Advertising standards reach you personally, and the brand's terms usually take the copyright in what you made.…

Scenario

Run an arts organisation or collective

A collective that never chose a vehicle is already a partnership, with liabilities it never agreed to.…

Full arrangement of sections 137 sections · show / hide

Extracted from the AGC PDF on this page.

s.1Short title and commencement

s.2Application

s.3Non-application

s.4Interpretation

s.6General Principle

s.7Notice and Choice Principle

s.8Disclosure Principle

s.9Security Principle

s.10Retention Principle

s.11Data Integrity Principle

s.12Access Principle

s.13Application of this Division

s.14Registration of data users

s.15Application for registration

s.16Certificate of registration

s.17Renewal of certificate of registration

s.18Revocation of registration

s.19Surrender of certificate of registration

s.20Register of Data Users

s.21Data user forum

s.22Register of Data User Forums

s.23Code of practice

s.24Commissioner may issue code of practice

s.25Applicable code of practice

s.26Revocation, etc., of code of practice

s.27Submission of new code of practice by data user forum

s.28Register of Codes of Practice

s.29Non-compliance with code of practice

s.30Right of access to personal data

s.31Compliance with data access request

s.32Circumstances where data user may refuse to comply with data access request

s.33Notification of refusal to comply with data access request

s.34Right to correct personal data

s.35Compliance with data correction request

s.36Circumstances where data user may refuse to comply with data correction request

s.37Notification of refusal to comply with data correction request

s.38Withdrawal of consent to process personal data

s.39Extent of disclosure of personal data

s.40Processing of sensitive personal data

s.41Repeated collection of personal data in same circumstances

s.42Right to prevent processing likely to cause damage or distress

s.43Right to prevent processing for purposes of direct marketing

s.44Record to be kept by data user

s.45Exemption

s.46Power to make further exemptions

s.47Appointment of Commissioner

s.48Functions of Commissioner

s.49Powers of Commissioner

s.50Appointment of Deputy Commissioners and Assistant Commissioners

s.51Appointment of other officers and servants

s.52Loans and advances to officers and servants

s.55Temporary exercise of functions and powers of Commissioner

s.57Remuneration and allowances

s.58Delegation of Commissioner’s functions and powers

s.59Direction by Minister

s.60Returns, reports, accounts and information

s.61Establishment of Fund

s.62Expenditure to be charged on Fund

s.63Conservation of Fund

s.64Reserve fund

s.65Financial year

s.66Limitation on contracts

s.67Bank accounts

s.68Accounts and audit

s.69Expenditure and preparation of estimates

s.70Establishment of Advisory Committee

s.71Functions of Advisory Committee

s.72Members of Advisory Committee

s.75Temporary exercise of functions of Chairman

s.77Allowances

s.78Time and place of meetings

s.79Advisory Committee may invite others to attend meetings

s.80Minutes

s.81Procedure

s.82Members to devote time to business of Advisory Committee

s.83Establishment of Appeal Tribunal

s.84Powers of Appeal Tribunal

s.85Members of Appeal Tribunal

s.86Secretary to Appeal Tribunal and other officers, etc

s.88Resignation and revocation of appointment

s.89Temporary exercise of functions of Chairman

s.91Allowances

s.92Disclosure of interest

s.93Appeal to Appeal Tribunal

s.94Record of decision of Commissioner

s.95Stay of decision pending appeal

s.96Composition of Appeal Tribunal

s.97Sitting of Appeal Tribunal

s.98Procedure of Appeal Tribunal

s.99Decision of Appeal Tribunal

s.100Enforcement of decision of Appeal Tribunal

s.101Inspection of personal data system

s.102Relevant data user, etc., to be informed of result of inspection

s.103Reports by Commissioner

s.104Complaint

s.105Investigation by Commissioner

s.106Restriction on investigation initiated by complaint

s.107Commissioner may carry out or continue investigation initiated by complaint notwithstanding withdrawal of complaint

s.108Enforcement notice

s.109Variation or cancellation of enforcement notice

s.110Authorized officers

s.111Authority card

s.112Power of investigation

s.113Search and seizure with warrant

s.114Search and seizure without warrant

s.115Access to computerized data

s.116Warrant admissible notwithstanding defects

s.117List of computer, book, account, etc., seized

s.118Release of computer, book, account, etc., seized

s.119No cost or damages arising from seizure to be recoverable

s.120Obstruction to search

s.121Power to require production of computer, book, account, etc

s.122Power to require attendance of persons acquainted with case

s.123Examination of persons acquainted with case

s.124Admission of statements in evidence

s.125Forfeiture of computer, book, account, etc., seized

s.126Joinder of offences

s.127Power of arrest

s.128Register

s.129Transfer of personal data to places outside Malaysia

s.130Unlawful collecting, etc., of personal data

s.131Abetment and attempt punishable as offences

s.132Compounding of offences

s.133Offences by body corporate

s.134Prosecution

s.135Jurisdiction to try offences

s.136Service of notices or other documents

s.137Public Authorities Protection Act

s.138Public servant

s.139Protection against suit and legal proceedings

s.140Protection of informers

s.141Obligation of secrecy

s.142Things done in anticipation of the enactment of this Act

s.143Power to make regulations

s.144Prevention of anomalies

s.145Personal data processed before the date of coming into operation of this Act

s.146Registration of persons who process personal data before the date of coming into operation of this Act

Full text

Read the law

PDF · 0.6 MB · hosted by ALIM

English text

Open the full text →

PDF · 0.5 MB · hosted by ALIM

Teks Bahasa Malaysia

Open the full text →

Source of record · lom.agc.gov.my/act-detail.php?act=709&lang=BI

Who this reaches

Digital & mediaContent creationMuseum & archivingEverything else

Important notice

This page is published by ALIM (Art × Law Initiative Malaysia) as general legal information for Malaysia’s creative communities. It is not legal advice. It does not take your circumstances into account, and reading it does not create a solicitor-client relationship with ALIM or with anyone associated with it.

The law changes. Each Act reproduced here is the Attorney General’s Chambers’ consolidated reprint and carries the date it was consolidated to; amendments made after that date do not appear in the text, and the authoritative version of any Malaysian law is the one published in the Federal Gazette. Subsidiary legislation, state enactments and local authority by-laws may also apply to your situation and are largely outside this library.

Please do not act, or decide not to act, on the strength of this page alone. Take advice from an advocate and solicitor on your own facts. To the extent permitted by law, ALIM and its contributors accept no liability for any loss arising from reliance on this page.

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