TongaPersonal Health Information Protection Act 2025, disclosure of personal health information outside Tonga
Act 31 of 2025, s. 54 (Personal Health Information Protection Act 2025, disclosure outside Tonga)
A cross border transfer rule binding public and private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Transfer, Consent
- Audit expectation
- none
What it requires
- These duties bind a health information custodian, which includes a health care practitioner, a person who operates a hospital or a pharmacy, an employer, and an insurer or insurance agent, that has custody or control of personal health information, and they bind the Crown (ss. 3(1), 7(4)).
- Disclose personal health information collected in Tonga to a person outside Tonga only with the person's consent, where the Act permits the disclosure, where the recipient performs functions comparable to those of a person to whom the Act permits disclosure in Tonga, or where the disclosure is reasonably necessary for the person's health care (unless they have expressly instructed you not to) or for payments in connection with it (s. 54(1)).
- Where the person's instruction stops you disclosing all the information reasonably necessary for their care, tell the recipient so (s. 54(2)).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
Who enforces it
Settledness
- As of
- Open questions
- Has the Personal Health Information Protection Act 2025 come into force, given that it has no commencement section and the Attorney General's legislation listing records as the date it commenced?
What it makes you log
Logging duty
Section 54 limits when a custodian may disclose personal health information to a person outside Tonga and requires a notice to the recipient where a person's instruction limits what is disclosed. It requires no record of disclosures and names no audit.
- Kind
- None
- As of
What this law does
Section 54(1) allows a custodian to disclose personal health information about a person collected in Tonga to a person outside Tonga only if the person consents, the Act permits the disclosure, the recipient performs functions comparable to those of a person to whom the Act permits disclosure in Tonga, the disclosure is reasonably necessary for the person's health care, or it is reasonably necessary for payments in connection with that care.
A custodian prescribed by the Regulations may also disclose personal health information to the government of the place where a person now resides, for health planning or health administration, if the information relates to health care provided in Tonga to that person. If the person's express instruction stops a custodian disclosing all the information it considers reasonably necessary for the person's health care, section 54(2) requires the custodian to notify the recipient of that fact.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app handles health records or processes personal data.
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