Privacy and Data Protection Laws in Jordan (HKJ)

In the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, privacy is a “cultural value” rather than a legal right, and in the Jordanian community it is about home, family and specially women. In Article 10 in the constitution in Jordan which part of it is basically derived from the Quran “Islamic Religious book” states than places of residence whether house or apartment shall not be broken, invaded or dishonored except advised by law. In addition to that the Jordanian constitution hold Article 18 which states that all ways of communication should be “treated as secret” and shouldn’t be censored except if advised by law. Those are the only 2 articles within the Jordanian constitution that deal with or mention privacy and data protection, but still as Privacy International mentioned, authorities do not respect those laws and they mentioned that there are cases where security officers monitored phone calls and censoring communication or checking after people who are considered dangerous on national security.

However, due to International pressure on the government as mentioned by privacy International, Jordan stated a few laws to provide privacy, and a study conducted by Royal Scientific Society encouraged local companies to start e-business because it showed that Jordan is one of the leading countries in adjusting its laws to protect “confidentiality of communications”. Since 1999 started planning for changes and drafted fundamentals to its economy by doing major changes, which started in educational sectors, like universities and schools, by using IT-based educational systems and stating modern laws. The “Electronic Transaction Act prohibits authentication institutions” from revealing clients secrets, and allowed the “telecommunication regulatory” to monitor the source radio waves, without considering it as a breach for privacy and communication confidentiality. Modification to this law took place to make sure that private communication is considered confidential and shouldn’t be dishonored, and punishment by prison and or fine will be held against any one who breaches private communication. Jordan signed the Agadir Process in 2004 along with other countries to incorporate with global trade and to stabilize business environments.

Jordan’s regulations are not developed yet properly when compared with the UK, EU or States. Users and consumers are not well protected like in other parts of the world and no consumer protection law is enforced in online trade. On the other hand, Jordan signed trade agreements with European union and states which will help in developing regulations and rules to protect privacy, and data as well consumer.

As well in European union, an individual can obtain a copy of his information obtained by public authority, in Jordan there is no way we can know such information, and strangely when we renew our passports we go through a very lengthy process because most of the information either is accurate or there is a conflict in name with someone else, in European approach under DPA1998 individuals right is to prevent direct marketing while in Jordan this right is not their.

References:

Al khal, A. (n.d.) ‘The Virtual Maw Firm – Privacy Issue’ World Wide Activities, Middle East – Jordan [Online], Available from: http://vlf.juridicum.su.se/master99/staff/akhal/privacy.html (12 March 2011)

European commission justice, (2010), ‘Data Protection’, [Online], Available from: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/policies/privacy/index_en.htm (Accessed 12 March 2011)

Hinde, S 2003, 'Privacy legislation: a comparison of the US and European approaches', Computers & Security, July, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost, [Online], Available from: http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/science?_ob=MImg&_imagekey=B6V8G-492V5TV-3-1&_cdi=5870&_user=822084&_pii=S0167404803005030&_origin=gateway&_coverDate=07%2F31%2F2003&_sk=999779994&view=c&wchp=dGLzVzz-zSkWb&md5=78a1d95da94f9069b8708c71c7663d03&ie=/sdarticle.pdf

 (Accessed on: 11 March 2011)

Jordanian Library, (1954), ‘The Constitution of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan’, [Online], Available from: http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/constitution_jo.html (Accessed 12 March 2011)

PI, (2007), ‘PHR2006 - THE HASHEMITE KINGDOM OF JORDAN’ [Online], Available from: https://www.privacyinternational.org/article/phr2006-hashemite-kingdom-jordan#[10] (accessed 12 March 2011)