Digital Personal Data Protection bill, pass by Parliament this week, has receive President’s assent, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said. Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) law aims to protect the privacy of Indian citizens while proposing a penalty of up to Rs. 250 crore on entities for misusing or failing to protect digital data of individuals.
Companies handling user data will be require to safeguard the individual’s information, and instances of personal data breach have to be report to the Data Protection Board (DPB) and the user.
Ashwini Vaishnaw said :
“DPDP Bill becomes an Act. Received Hon’ble President’s assent,”.
On 9th August 2023, the Rajya Sabha approve the DPDP bill that introduces many compliance requirements for the collection and processing of personal data, has provisions to curb misuse of individuals’ data by online platforms, and entails up to Rs. 250 crore penalty for any data breach.
Data of children can be process after consent from guardians, as per the DPDP law.
The Lok Sabha had approve the bill on 7th August 2023.
The government expects to implement the Act within 10 months, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had said earlier this week.
This bill lays down the manner in which companies should process users’ data, and gives the government power to seek information from firms and issue directions to block content on the advice of a data protection board appoint by the Union government.
It allows users the right to correct their personal data.
This bill applies to the processing of digital personal data in India, where the personal data is either collect in digital form or in a non-digitise format and subsequently digitise.
The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill defines ‘personal data‘ broadly to include any data about an individual who is identifiable by or in relation to such data.
‘Digital personal data’ is define to mean personal data in digital form.
DPDP gives the government powers to exempt state agencies from the law.
As per Digital Personal Data Protection Bill :
"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,".
It moots creation of Data Protection Board of India to handle grievances of individuals around personal data privacy if data fiduciaries or firms using personal data fail to address individuals’ complaints.
