Webinar | Having a regulatory representative in Africa

As organisations expand into African markets, they increasingly need to navigate different laws, regulators and compliance requirements. For example, if an organisation is going to process the personal information of people in a country, it will probably need to register with the relevant Data Protection Authority. Issues such as cross-border transfers, data sovereignty, officer roles, and data localisation laws are becoming increasingly complex. Having a local representative in the country can make all the difference, and in some countries it is mandatory by law.

Find out how to have a regulatory representative in the African countries in which you operate.

We have teamed up with some of the African members in the Lexing Network for a practical discussion on regulatory representations across Africa. Our panel of lawyers from Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Morocco and Cameroon will share how the representative role operates in their own jurisdictions, drawing on real-world experience advising and acting as representatives for organisations doing business in Africa.

One network. Local expertise. Practical support across Africa.

What you’ll learn

• What the representative is responsible for and what they are not required to do.
• How the requirements differ across African jurisdictions.
• How a local representative can help an organisation communicate with regulators and manage its local data protection obligations.
• Practical considerations when appointing a representative, including local expertise and working with the organisation’s existing privacy team.
• How organisations can build a practical data protection support network across multiple African countries.

Outcomes

• Understand what a regulatory representative is, and why the role exists.
• Know how to choose the right representative, and what to look for.
• Leave with a direct line to lawyers in each country who can act as your representative. 

Meet the speakers

John Giles is the host. John has extensive practical experience helping organisations comply with digital, data and technology laws. He is a South African regulatory representative for a number of large organisations and has spent many years helping organisations understand and implement their obligations. He leads the Michalsons Information Officer programme and spends much of his time helping large organisations navigate complex global data laws in practical ways.

The panel brings together members of the Lexing Network with expertise across African data protection laws:

• Nesrine Roudane – Founding partner of Roudane & Partners Law Firm in Morocco. Her practice includes data protection, cross-border transactions and regulatory matters, with a particular focus on Morocco and Francophone West Africa. She advises international investors, multinational corporations and public institutions.
• Annick Imboua-Niava – Founding partner of Roudane & Partners Law Firm in Morocco. Her practice includes data protection, cross-border transactions and regulatory matters, with a particular focus on Morocco and Francophone West Africa. She advises international investors, multinational corporations and public institutions.
• Esther Sandrine Ngom – Founder of Yii Attorneys in Cameroon and a lawyer at the Cameroon Bar. She is an OAPI-accredited intellectual property consultant and has practised and researched digital law since 2011, with expertise in data protection, AI, cybersecurity and technology law. She is also a trainer and frequent speaker on technology and data protection issues.
• Izuogo Chukweuyere – Partner at Streamsowers & Köhn in Nigeria, where he heads the Telecoms, Media and Technology practice. He advises on technology, competition and regulatory matters and has particular expertise in data protection and privacy. He has also written on developments in Nigerian data protection law, including recent decisions involving the Nigeria Data Protection Commission.

Who should attend

This webinar will be useful for organisations operating or planning to operate across African markets, particularly:

• Data Protection (Information) Officers looking to appoint local representatives.
• In-house legal and compliance teams managing compliance across multiple African jurisdictions.
• Business leaders responsible for expanding into or already operating in African markets.
• Legal and compliance professionals advising clients on compliance in Africa.

Bookings

The webinar is held on Zoom.

Members and non-members:

Free for all attendees (not just members of our programmes). Please register for the event by clicking on the red register button below. If you find value in this webinar, please consider joining a Michalsons programme.