‘Peel off the mask’: Enforcement of the Data Protection Act in Mauritius

Abstract

How data protection legislation is interpreted in practice constitutes an essential criterion by which the European Union assesses the adequacy standard of a third country. It is not enough that a third country possesses a legislation with perfect provisions. This being the case, data protection authorities, tribunals and courts have the important role to ensure that data protection legislation is properly interpreted to meet the intention of the law. Concomitantly, assessment that reveals shortcomings as to the data protection practices of a third country is likely to be considered detrimental towards its EU accreditation agenda. Yet such assessment may help a country to plug the gaps in its data protection system before it proceeds to seek accreditation.