The ICO, the UK’s data protection and privacy regulator, has signed a new international, multilateral agreement to cooperate in cross-border data protection and privacy enforcement.

As part of the Global Cooperation Agreement for Privacy Enforcement (Global CAPE), the ICO will help provide assistance with investigations, sharing information with member countries without having to enter separate memorandums of understanding.

The Agreement’s members include the United States, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Philippines, Singapore, and Taipei.

Global CAPE was created to supplement the Asian Economic Cooperation Cross-border Privacy Rules (APEC CBPR), which also facilitates cooperation and assistance in privacy and data security among its Asian Pacific countries. The new arrangement allows for participation by countries outside of the Asia Pacific area.

Speaking on the new agreement, John Edwards, the UK information commissioner, said: “The ICO’s association with the Global CAPE is an important step in strengthening our relationship with other countries so we can work together to tackle global data protection and privacy issues.

“Personal information of UK people often moves between countries, so it’s vital that we work with our key international partners to design solutions that safeguard people’s privacy wherever they are based.”

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The UK data protection regulator joining Global CAPE is but one of the ICO-related news stories that DIGIT has reported on in the last month.

For instance, just yesterday, the ICO called on social media platforms to improve data protection practices so children and their data are safer online.

Around two weeks ago, it also published new data protection fining guidance for UK-based organisations, providing greater transparency on how the ICO goes about using its fining power.

In March, it warned and sent an enforcement notice to the Home Office regarding its pilot which involved GPS ankle tags to monitor the movement of up to 600 migrants in the UK.