South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) is the country’s most important privacy protection regulation, which came into effect on September 30, 2011, and has undergone multiple revisions, with the latest version officially implemented in 2023. The law aims to comprehensively protect the rights of personal information subjects, regulate the collection, storage, processing, and sharing of personal information, and promote privacy compliance and data security standards in South Korea’s global digital economy. PIPA applies to: 1.Any institutions, organizations, or individuals operating within South Korea; 2.Foreign institutions, organizations, and individuals operating outside South Korea but processing personal information of South Korean residents; 3.Entities directly involved in or related to personal information processing activities in South Korea. Compared to privacy laws in other countries, PIPA has stricter requirements for protecting data subject rights, particularly with its requirement for explicit consent during data collection. It mandates that businesses follow the “data minimization” principle when processing personal information, meaning only the information necessary to achieve specific purposes should be collected and used. Additionally, PIPA provides more detailed response requirements for data breaches, stipulating that businesses must report breaches to regulatory authorities within 72 hours and notify data subjects when appropriate. PIPA defines personal information as data directly related to an individual’s identity, such as names, identification numbers, and contact information. Compared to GDPR, PIPA places greater emphasis on transparency and legality in data processing, with stringent compliance requirements for cross-border data transfers.Violations of PIPA can lead to significant fines, criminal liability, or other legal consequences. Tuya has developed a PIPA compliance white paper to help our clients understand PIPA and how they can meet its requirements.