New Digital Personal Data Protection Bill | Fusion - WeRIndia

The government released the new Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2022 on November 18. The bill mainly focused on personal data.

The first draft of the Personal Data Protection Bill was proposed in 2018. The government made revisions to the bill and introduced the Personal Data Protection Bill in 2019.

The Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha. The House passed a motion to refer the bill to a joint committee comprised of both Houses of Parliament.

The joint committee submitted its report after two years due to the pandemic. The government withdrew the Personal Data Protection Bill in 2021 due to extensive changes proposed by the joint committee.

Now, the government released the new Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Bill. The bill applies to the processing of personal data carried out digitally. That means the bill applies to the processing of personal data collected online and offline.

The data that is collected offline but digitised for processing will also be under the scope of the bill. Those who failed to do so will have to bear heavy penalties.

The bill relaxed rules on cross-border data flows, which will be a great relief to big companies. It covers personal data collected within India and processed to offer goods and services in the country.

The DPDP Bill is based on some principles. The companies or organizations that collect the data of individuals must do it lawfully. That is, the collection process must be fair and transparent to individuals.

Besides, the companies must use the collected data for the purpose specified by them. That means they must use it for the purpose for which it was collected. Furthermore, the data should be stored for a limited period. In other words, it must not be stored perpetually.

The government invited feedback on the bill by December 17, 2022.

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash (Free for commercial use)

Image Reference: https://unsplash.com/photos/FnA5pAzqhMM