Saqr Ghobash calls for clear legislation on data confidentiality to enhance decision-making and investment

The Speaker of the Federal National Council, Saqr Ghobash, confirmed that there is a problem resulting from the absence of legislation defining the concept and limits of data confidentiality, which has created fear among every official in any position, in determining what is confidential and what is not confidential.
Ghobash said at the conclusion of the tenth session of the Federal National Council, which was held, today, Wednesday, in Abu Dhabi to discuss the issue of government policy regarding the government’s policy in regulating the statistical sector and open data and enhancing the country’s competitiveness: “The Federal Center for Competitiveness and Statistics depends on coordination with other centers and with other parties as well, and I experienced this coordination in my capacity as Minister of Labour, and we wanted to have complete labor market information, so a larger part of it was with us as a ministry, but there are other parts that we do not have, and we showed readiness and sat with the competent authorities.” We allowed them to use our data and it was rich data, but they were reluctant to give us the data and we did not find any way to oblige them,” stressing that as long as this legislation is not issued, we will remain in this same framework.
He added: “The report presented by the Financial, Economic and Industrial Affairs Committee, and also what was indicated by the Director of the Federal Center for Competitiveness and Statistics, Hanan Ahli, is that there is recognition of the existence of some challenges, which is the beginning of finding solutions and development, and there is actually a need for development, and that development is no longer an option, but rather a necessity,” indicating: “There are other challenges, but they are easier to deal with or address, especially since today we can use artificial intelligence, which is available and we are advanced in this aspect.
He warned that in the absence of data and treating it as if it were all confidential, people would resort to unreliable data and build opinions, decisions, and perceptions about the state on it, and the investment owner would base a decision on it that might be to refrain from investing. He pointed out that this matter was also clearly pointed out to him by Council member Dr. Marwan Al Muhairi, and this matter was also clear in the committee’s report on pages 15, 16, and 17, except that they were a little conservative in the proposal. Instead of saying legislation, they said regulation. My estimate is that it is time for there to be legislation, and the challenge is not easy, but if you succeed in having this legislation, you will have solved the rest of the problems, and in the absence of this legislation, coordination and cooperation will continue, which varies with the presence of people, and we cannot blame the responsible person when he finds himself not wanting to bear the responsibility of displaying certain data.”
Ghobash continued: “Confidentiality is required, and classifying confidential information may be more important than daily jurisprudence because it is classified on sound foundations. However, in cases of jurisprudence, the responsible person can give information and believe that it is not confidential, so I hope that there will be a serious effort and sincere desire to find legislation.”