IAMAI hails the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill; terms it industry-friendly

The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) on Monday lauded the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill (DPDP) and termed it industry-friendly.

As per IAMAI, the Bill has struck the right balance between protecting the interests of the data principals while leaving enough room for tech start-ups to innovate and grow.  

According to the feedback received from the majority of IAMAI members, the reconceptualization of the data protection framework in the DPDP to balance innovation and economic growth with the interests of users will go a long way to assuage concerns of digital businesses and help make India a trillion-dollar digital economy by 2025, it said in a statement.

In particular, IAMAI has appreciated the more liberalised framework for cross-border data flows and the exclusion of non-personal data from the ambit of the DPDP Bill. IAMAI also appreciates that the Bill imposes only financial penalties for non-compliance as opposed to both financial and criminal penalties.

Subho Ray, President, IAMAI, stated, “By following a deep and wide process of consultation including that of a joint parliamentary committee, excluding non-essential provisions, by making a clear commitment that no rules exceeding the provisions of the Act would be made, and yet protecting the interests of the state, citizens and the digital economy, this Bill has possibly set up new standards of law-making”.

On behalf of its members, the association has requested the government to provide clarifications regarding the DPDP so that once it is passed into an Act, there is better compliance by IAMAI members.

In particular, it said through the statement, that there remain ambiguities surrounding the timelines for implementing the various provisions of the Bill and mechanisms for obtaining verifiable parental consent to process the personal data of children.

As the inclusion of specific timelines will provide a roadmap for the industry to better comply with the Bill, IAMAI has requested the government to clearly indicate reasonable timelines by which the various provisions of the DPDP will be implemented and to adopt a graded approach to prescribing such timelines. 

IAMAI has also urged the government to consider a flexible approach to obtaining parental consent, as prescriptive mandates may have an adverse cascading impact on sectors that provide services to younger individuals.

IAMAI is confident that through consultation and collaboration, the final version of the law will help stakeholders who are invested in and committed to the digital ecosystem of India.

The proposed bill came in place of the Data Protection Bill, which was withdrawn by the government in August last year.

The draft proposed to set up a Data Protection Board of India, which will carry on functions as per the provisions of the bill. It also proposed a graded penalty system for data fiduciaries that will process the personal data of data owners only in accordance with the provisions of the Act.

The draft has proposed a penalty of up to Rs 250 crore in case the Data Fiduciary or Data Processor fails to protect against personal data breaches in its possession or under its control.

The draft has also proposed a penalty of Rs 200 crore in case the Data Fiduciary or Data Processor fails to inform the Board and data owner about the data breach.

The bill has a provision to allow entities to transfer the personal data of a citizen outside the country in cases where the processing of personal data is necessary for enforcing any legal right or claim, the performance of any judicial or quasi-judicial function, investigation or prosecution of any offence or data owner is not within the territory of India and has entered into any contract with any person outside the country.

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