7-Dec-2022: The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2022

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has prepared a draft Bill, titled the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2022 and has invited feedback from the public as part of its public consultation exercise. The draft Bill sets out the rights and duties of the citizen (Digital Nagrik) and the obligations of the Data Fiduciary to use the collected data lawfully. As part of the compliance framework, it envisages the setting up of a Data Protection Board of India to determine non-compliance with the provisions of the draft Bill, impose penalty for such non-compliance, and perform such other functions as the Central Government may assign to it under the provisions of the draft Bill or any law.

Currently, the Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules, 2011, made by the Central Government in exercise of its powers under the Information Technology Act 2000, provide the security practices and procedures that a body corporate or any person collecting, receiving, possessing, storing, dealing or handling information on behalf of the body corporate is required to observe for protecting personal data of users. These practices and procedures include the requirements that such body corporate or person publish on the website a policy for privacy and disclosure of personal information, data or information, to use information collected for the purpose for which it has been collected, to keep it secure and to obtain prior permission of the information provider for disclosing personal data.

18-Nov-2022: MeitY invites feedback on the draft ‘Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2022’

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has been deliberating on various aspects of digital personal data and its protection, and has formulated a draft Bill, titled ‘The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2022’. The purpose of the draft Bill is to provide for the processing of digital personal data in a manner that recognizes both the right of individuals to protect their personal data and the need to process personal data for lawful purposes, and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

The draft Bill employs plain and simple language to facilitate ease of understanding and is available on Ministry’s website at https://www.meity.gov.in/data-protection-framework along with an Explanatory note that provides a brief overview of its provisions, which is available at https://www.meity.gov.in/data-protection-framework

The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill frames out the rights and duties of the citizen (Digital Nagrik) on one hand and the obligations to use collected data lawfully of the Data Fiduciary on the other hand. The bill is based on the following principles around the Data Economy:

The Bill will establish the comprehensive legal framework governing digital personal data protection in India. The Bill provides for the processing of digital personal data in a manner that recognizes the right of individuals to protect their personal data, societal rights and the need to process personal data for lawful purposes.

The Ministry has invited feedback from the public on the draft Bill. The submissions will not be disclosed and held in fiduciary capacity, to enable persons submitting feedback to provide the same freely. No public disclosure of the submissions will be made.

The feedback on the draft bill in a chapter wise manner may be submitted on  https://innovateindia.mygov.in/digital-data-protection/ by December 17, 2022.