Presidential Green Light: Digital Personal Data Protection Bill Officially Enacted into Law
- ByStartupStory | August 13, 2023
New Delhi: The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, which was approved by Parliament this week, has now received the assent of the President, according to Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw’s announcement on Saturday.
The aim of the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) law is to safeguard the privacy of Indian citizens, while also proposing penalties of up to Rs 250 crore for entities found misusing or inadequately protecting the digital data of individuals.
Companies responsible for user data will be required to ensure the protection of individuals’ information, and any instances of breaches involving personal data must be reported to the Data Protection Board (DPB) and the affected user.
“DPDP Bill becomes an Act. Received Hon’ble President’s assent,” stated Vaishnaw in similar posts on X (formerly Twitter) and the homegrown app Koo.
On August 9, the Rajya Sabha approved the DPDP Bill, which introduces multiple compliance obligations for the collection and processing of personal data. It also includes provisions to counter the misuse of individuals’ data by online platforms, and establishes penalties of up to Rs 250 crore for data breaches.
The DPDP law permits the processing of children’s data with consent from guardians. The Lok Sabha had initially passed the Bill on August 7. The government anticipates implementing the Act within the next 10 months, as mentioned earlier in the week by IT Minister Vaishnaw.
The Bill outlines the procedures companies must follow for processing users’ data and empowers the government to request information from firms and issue directives to block content based on advice from a data protection board appointed by the Union government. It also grants users the right to rectify their personal data.
The Bill is applicable to the processing of digital personal data in India, where the personal data is collected in digital form or initially collected in non-digitized form and later digitized.
The term ‘personal data’ is broadly defined in the Bill to encompass any data related to an identifiable individual. ‘Digital personal data’ is specifically defined as personal data in digital form.
The DPDP law grants the government the authority to exempt state agencies from its provisions.
“The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023 a Bill to provide for the processing of digital personal data in a manner that recognises both the right of individuals to protect their personal data and the need to process such personal data for lawful purposes and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto,” as stated in the DPDP Bill.
The Bill proposes the establishment of the Data Protection Board of India to address grievances from individuals regarding personal data privacy, in cases where data fiduciaries or firms using personal data fail to address individual complaints.
Follow Startup Story
Related Posts
