Failing to treat personal information in accordance with legislative requirements and best practice can have an adverse effect on a company's reputation and its relationship with its employees and customers.

Specific data protection regimes are now common in more developed jurisdictions. The laws of countries in the region, however, contain more limited provisions which deal with protecting family and personal secrets. In addition, comprehensive data protection regimes apply in regional free zones such as the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), Dubai Healthcare City (DHCC) and the Qatar Financial Centre, where, among other things, ombudsmen and authorities are empowered to oversee the application and interpretation of applicable data protection legislation. Awareness of the importance of data protection and privacy issues is increasing, including in the Middle East, where there have been a number of developments in recent months.

This article provides a brief overview of data protection and privacy in the DHCC.