DATA BILL: MORE CLARITY NEEDED ON EXCEPTIONS, CONSENT, BOARD

NEW DELHI: The proposed new data protection law shared by the government possibly falls afoul of the 2017 Supreme Court judgment that laid down the right to privacy, gives the government excessive leeway in framing rules and protocols outside of the parent legislation and seeks to set up a regulator that is unlikely to be independent, experts believe.

Among the aspects that experts pointed to was the number of issues left to be “prescribed” later via rules that the government will draw up, a process that would not need parliamentary approval.

Among these are additional purposes to which deemed consent will apply, the purposes for which there will be exemption on the additional protections when data of children is processed, and the strength, composition, terms and conditions of appointment and service of the Data Protection Board and its officers and employees.